2008 Photo Contest, General News, 1st prize
Photographer

Balazs Gardi

VII Network / Alexia Foundation

01 October, 2007

An American soldier from Battle Company, which covers the Korengal Valley as part of the Second Battalion of the 503rd Infantry Regiment (airborne), collapses in exhaustion during Operation Rock Avalanche. The valley is one of the deadliest zones of conflict in the region. Located near the Pakistan border, it was the first part of a former mujahideen arms-smuggling channel. American military strategists believed that al-Qaeda was trying to revive the route.

About the photographer

Balazs Gardi

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