Tag: Afghanistan
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First principles
Charles G. KelsSan Antonio, Texas, United States The law of war is enshrined in treaties but steeped in blood. In 1859, a young Swiss businessman was traveling through Italy when a savage battle between French and Austrian forces commenced. Seeing “how many unfortunate men were left behind, lying helpless on the naked ground in their…
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Blood mnemonics
Chris ArthurSt. Andrews, Scotland Two photographs in Dunant’s Dream, Caroline Moorehead’s meticulous and moving history of the Red Cross, can be juxtaposed to illustrate a key aspect of this organization’s work. The first shows Henri Dunant, now regarded as “the father of the Red Cross.”1 In June 1859, this thirty-one-year-old businessman was traveling in Italy…
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To mount a camel
Larry ZaroffStanford University, California For the West, Afghanistan is a country difficult to understand. Though largely Muslim, it is a society made up of multiple ethnic groups and classes, beset by ideological disagreements, with disconnected provinces that are unstable, unconquerable, and often anarchic. All Afghans are culturally mixed, yet are highly independent, believe strongly in…
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Shrapnel
Christopher J. Schayer New Haven, Connecticut U.S. Army Flight Medic Sgt. Nathaniel Dabney, second left, of Prescott, Ariz., with Charlie Company, 3-82nd Aviation Regiment- Task Force Talon, directs U.S. Marines as they carry a young Afghan gunshot victim to a waiting army Blackhawk helicopter during a medevac operation, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Monday,…