Photographer Louie Palu began visiting Kandahar, a southern province that is one of Afghanistan's largest, in 2006, as the insurgency returned with new violence and urgency, permanently changing the tenor of the war. Originally overlooked by most Western media outlets, the region eventually became the focal point of the fight against the Taliban. Rather than focus on specific battles, Palu's portraits look at the region over the course of years, charting the evolution of one of the region's most beautiful -- and violent -- areas. Here, we look at images taken from 2006-2010.
Above, an Afghan soldier eats grapes during a patrol in Pashmul in Zharay District, Kandahar province. Kandahar is well known throughout many parts of Asia and the Middle East for its raisins. The grapes are grown in trenches that make fighting difficult.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
An Afghan National Police (ANP) officer who was injured by gunfire sings to birds at an outpost on the front lines in Pashmul in Zharay District. Along with nearby Panjwa'i District, Zharay was the most volatile area in Afghanistan and the scene of heavy fighting with Taliban insurgents through 2010. It became the site of some of the largest land battles in NATO's history.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
An Afghan soldier prays at a forward operating base in the Howz-E-Madad area a day before an operation against Taliban insurgents in Zharay District.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
A Canadian soldier holds still moments after a bomb set in a tree by insurgents explodes in the village of Nakhonay, Panjwa'i District. Canadian forces took part in combat operations in Kandahar from 2005-2011. They have been locked in bitter fighting in this area since the beginning in 2006 of Operation Medusa, a Canadian-led offensive that aimed to strengthen government control of the province.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
Women beg outside the mosque that houses what is said to be the cloak of the Prophet Mohammed in Kandahar City. For more than two centuries, the legendary cloak, one of Islam's most treasured symbols, has been kept in this mosque. Taliban leader Mullah Omar used the cloak as a symbol to rally devout Taliban fighters in the 1990s.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
A frightened Afghan machine gunner speaks with a Canadian soldier during a heavy firefight in the Spin Pir area of Zharay District. This area is located within several miles of what is believed to be the birthplace of Mullah Omar.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
An Afghan police officer with machine-gun rounds wrapped around his neck prepares to go on patrol in the village of Adamzai in Panjwa'i District.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
An Afghan farmer prepares food while children wait for a meal after working in the fields in Zharay District. Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, and both children and adults must work to make ends meet.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
A detainee captured by the Afghan Army on a joint patrol with Canadian troops sits by a wall at a Canadian Forward Operating Base in Howz E Madad in Zharay District.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
An Afghan civilian walks his sheep past a Canadian machine-gun position along the district line between Zharay and Panjwa'i Districts.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
A Canadian soldier takes cover in tall grass while taking fire from insurgents near the Pashmul area in Zharay District. The numerous ditches and lush vegetation of Zharay District make the area ideal for guerrilla warfare and allow the insurgents greater freedom of movement than elsewhere in the country.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
An Afghan National Army soldier on the front lines in Zharay District.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
A blood- and mud-stained Afghan soldier seriously injured by an IED during a night patrol is illuminated by lights on a Medevac helicopter as he is evacuated from Zharay District.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
A Canadian soldier looks at a bullet-riddled wall in Zharay District.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
On a hot summer afternoon, Afghan children swim and play in a irrigation canal less than two miles from where a battle between insurgents and NATO-supported Afghan soldiers was taking place near the Feyzollahkhan and Pashmul areas of Zharay District.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
An Afghan soldier plays a flute while others peel potatoes on the front lines in the Howz-E-Madad area a day before a joint operation against Taliban insurgents with Canadian forces in Zharay District.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
An Afghan National Army soldier lays in his bed beside his assault rifle, bread, tea, and a small Christmas tree during the Islamic holiday of Eid at a forward operating base in Zharay District.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
An American soldier illuminates the legs of a comrade critically injured by an IED attack on their armored vehicle while a flight medic with the 101st Airborne Combat Aviation Brigade organizes the evacuation of the wounded to Kandahar Airfield.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
An Afghan boy watches a U.S. Army flight medic treat one of his two critically wounded brothers in the back of a Medevac helicopter. The boys were injured in Zharay District by an IED that was set off by a passing donkey.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
The shadow of a U.S. Army Medevac helicopter as it evacuates an IED casualty in Zharay District.
Louie Palu/ZUMA Press/New America Foundation
