U.S. and Afghan forces are fighting to gain control of a major crossroads in a part of Afghanistan that has seen so few NATO troops that one village elder mistook the Americans for Russians — from the long-ago Soviet war.
“It’s an absolutely crucial area,” says NPR photographer David Gilkey, who has been embedded with U.S. troops involved in the offensive in eastern Afghanistan’s Ghazni province.
“It’s gorgeous,” Gilkey tells Morning Edition co-host Renee Montagne. “It’s a valley, and it sort of reminds me of the high desert area in Arizona. That said, it’s also quite dangerous. It’s where Highway 1 runs from Kabul to Kandahar. It is the key road that runs north to south.”
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