I was therefore surprised when the same picture showed up in a similar campaign for the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago, along with several more pictures of children. These too were feel-good photos -- something you might see on a postcard printed on recycled paper and sold to benefit UNICEF. The 2012 campaign was billed "NATO Delivers: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow." From many of the pictures, though, it wasn't entirely clear what NATO had delivered. It's true that because of Allied intervention, security, and aid, more Afghan children are in school and have access to basic medical care now than they did 10 years ago. But that certainly wasn't demonstrated by pictures such as this one of an Afghan girl outside a hospital in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, as pretty as it may be.
Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Chris Harper
