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The day before the elections in Afghanistan, I ran into Peter van Agtmael, the war photographer, at a Marine Corps outpost in the town of Garmsir. He and the New York Times' Dexter Filkins were coming from Mianposhteh, where they had spent the last few days with the marines of 2/8 Echo company, getting shot at. I was on my way to do the same thing. Good luck, Peter told me. You'll need it.
Two-and-a-half weeks later, I ran into Peter at the Dubai airport. We were both on our way out of Afghanistan, and heading to Europe. We drank a couple of beers, to celebrate making it out of Mianposhteh intact and to remember the troops that were still in such awful, dangerous places. Then he showed me his pictures from his time with Echo. They were haunting and gorgeous, vivid and heartbreaking.
I don't know how many of Peter's photographs will make it into Sunday's edition of the *Times *magazine, to accompany Filkins' profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan. So be sure to check out this slideshow of his work on the paper's website. It is not to be missed.
[Photo: Peter van Agtmael / Magnum for the New York Times]
