Adam Ferguson

Photographs: The Korengal Valley

The Korengal Valley, a six-mile stretch of rugged terrain in Afghanistan's northeastern province of Kunar, is home to some of the deadliest fighting between insurgents and US Forces in Afghanistan. Nearly eight years after the US led coalition invaded Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, the Korengal Valley epitomizes a convoluted fight that is far from over. Local insurgencies take root in a climate of poverty and unemployment, while warlords and Taliban prey on these grievances.

US forces entered the Korengal in April 2006, setting up base on the site of the valley's largest lumber mill. The timber industry was the valley’s primary source of income before the Karzai government banned logging, a law that is effectively upheld in Kunar by US forces.

Subsequently, employment, income generation through smuggling and opportunity are limited for local residents, fueling resentment of the US presence.

Added to this resentment is the valley's proximity to Pakistan, a sanctuary for insurgents fighting in Afghanistan, and an entry and smuggling route for foreign fighters believed to be linked to al Qaeda and other militant jihad networks.

In March 2009 I embedded in the Korengal Valley with Bravo Company, a 150-soldier unit of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army. They had already lost seven men.

Minutes after a US soldier was killed on patrol by an IED, smoke rises from a bomb dropped on a suspected insurgent position as troops from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, return fire in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
   
Sergeant Carl Baker from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, stands guard while fellow soldiers question village elders in Loi Kolay, a known insurgent affected village, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
   
A young boy looks from a car stopped at an Afghan National Army checkpoint in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
     
  
Korengal Valley village elders arrive at the Korengal Out Post (KOP), a base housing soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, for the weekly Shura (meeting) between Army and locals, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. The Bravo Company Commander and Elders discussed compensation to locals for damage caused by US bombs and the detention of a local man suspected of ties to the Taliban.
   
1st. Lt. Berkey (L) from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, walks through the kitchen area at Fire Base Restrepo, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
   
A soldier from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, provides an outer security cordon to the Afghan National Army (ANA) while they perform house searches in Loi Kolay Village, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
     
  
Soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, fire mortars on suspected insurgent positions, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
   
A squad of soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, enter Loi Kolay, a known insurgent affected village, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. While exiting the village the patrol was ambushed by insurgents.
   
A soldier from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, takes cover while watching the hillsides of Loi Kolay Village being mortared and bombed by US assets, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. Two squads were ambushed as they left Loi Kolay Village while on a patrol to question village elders.
     
  
A view of an Observation Post on the outskirts of the Korengal Out Post (KOP), a base housing soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
   
Specialist Joseph Moody, age 19, from Myrtle, Mississippi, a soldier from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, smokes a cigarette at Observation Post 1, a post that overlooks the Korengal Out Post (KOP), the US Army’s base of operations in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
   
A soldier from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, holds a M4 machine gun with a clip that he has written ‘damn the valley’ on, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
     
  
Soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, enjoy a treat of magazines and food carried from the Korengal Out Post, at Fire Base Restrepo, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. The soldiers usually live on army issue long life food.
   
Korengal village elders attend the weekly Shura (meeting) at the Korengal Out Post (KOP), a base housing soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. The Bravo Company Commander and Elders discussed compensation to locals for damage caused by US bombs and the detention of a local man suspected of ties to the Taliban.
   
Korengal village elders attend the weekly Shura (meeting) at the Korengal Out Post (KOP), a base housing soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. The Bravo Company Commander and Elders discussed compensation to locals for damage caused by US bombs and the detention of a local man suspected of ties to the Taliban.
     
  
Korengal village elders leave the weekly Shura (meeting) at the Korengal Out Post (KOP), a base housing soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. The Bravo Company Commander and Elders discussed compensation to locals for damage caused by US bombs and the detention of a local man suspected of ties to the Taliban.
   
A soldier from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, sits at Observation Post Dallas after standing down from a suspected attack, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
   
Smoke seen from Fire Base Restrepo, a base housing soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, rises from suspected insurgent positions, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
     
  
Soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, return to Fire Base Restrepo after a patrol to Obi Naw Village to speak with village elders, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
   
An Afghan boy sits listening as village elders are questioned by a soldier from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, in Loi Kolay, a known insurgent affected village, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. While exiting the village the patrol was ambushed by insurgents.
   
A Loi Kolay village elder stands for a portrait outside his home after being questioned about insurgent activity in his village, on a night mission conducted by soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
     
  
A soldier from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, stands guard while his squad leader questions a village elder about insurgent activity in Loi Kolay, a known insurgent affected village, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
   
Soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, rest at Fire Base Restrepo, after an operation that provided an outer security cordon to the Afghan National Army (ANA) while they performed house searches in Loi Kolay Village, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
   
Private 1st Class, James Hayden, age 19, from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, stands for a portrait at Fire Base Restrepo, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
     
  
A soldier from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, stands and rests after climbing to an Observation Post which overlooks the Korengal Out Post (KOP), the US Army’s base of operations in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
   
Soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, US Army, sit down to a local meal prepared by Afghan labourers who work on base, at Observation Post Dallas, in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
   
US soldiers from Bravo Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division walk above Loi Kolay Village as they return to Observation Post Restrepo, after being attacked by insurgents in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. Two squads were ambushed as they left Loi Kolay Village while on a patrol to question village elders.