The Derelict Russian Tank

A war photo a day #30

The Derelict Russian Tank The Derelict Russian Tank

Uncategorized September 10, 2013

David Axe photo The Derelict Russian Tank A war photo a day #30 Eight years. Seven wars. More death and destruction than I care... The Derelict Russian Tank
David Axe photo

The Derelict Russian Tank

A war photo a day #30

Eight years. Seven wars. More death and destruction than I care to recount. I’ve been covering armed conflict since 2005. Every battlefield has its stories … and its unforgettable images. Follow me through my career at war, one jarring, haunting or sublime photo a day until I run out.

In early 2010 I returned to Afghanistan for my third visit with U.S. and allied troops in that ravaged country. I drove into Parwan province near Kabul with young U.S. Army soldiers. We climbed a mountain path to the rusty shell of a Russian-made tank—a leftover of the Afghan civil war that, in a different guise, continues today.

The lieutenant, likely in his early 20s, told me he liked to bring his men up here to remind them what war costs. I wondered if he truly understood the cost himself.

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