Shah-do-Shamshira Mosque is known as the Mosque of the King with Two Swords. It was built in the 1920s on the order of King Amanullah’s mother on the site of one of Kabul’s first mosques named in honour of an early Muslim king who died fighting Hindu inva

Simon Norfolk

A watchtower guarding a street of foreign embassies in central Kabul. For the British army these improvised fortifications are called ‘sangars’, although the term is Dari for ‘barricade’ and is one of the few words the British brought home form the Anglo-

Simon Norfolk

A cellphone booster-station built on the wreckage of buildings that once housed a market.

Simon Norfolk

Historically, Kuchis were strongly pro-Taliban; feelings made more intense by being bombed by NATO off their traditional grazing lands in Helmand. They are allowed to set up camp here on Kabul’s periphery only because it is below a large, new Afghan Army

Simon Norfolk

Some of the Media Operations team including a Combat Camera unit, Camp Bastion, Helmand.

Simon Norfolk

Afghan Police being trained by US Marines, Camp Leatherneck.

Simon Norfolk

Afghan police trainees being taken to the firing ranges by US Marines, Camp Leatherneck, Helmand.

Simon Norfolk

A shaded rest area built by helicoptor re-fuelling crews at Camp Bastion.

Simon Norfolk

Security lights and communications antennae at Camp Leatherneck.

Simon Norfolk

The seemingly endless number of helicopter pads and hangars at Camp Bastion.

Simon Norfolk

One of the huge logistics compounds at Camp Leatherneck. A modern, technological army needs hundreds of thousands of different kinds of objects in order to keep it working. A $100m warplane can be grounded for the want of a $1 part. Supplying these things

Simon Norfolk

There are 16,000 US Marines aboard Camp Leatherneck spread over 1,600 acres. Empty shipping containers are used as storage, wind breaks or blast walls. In May 2010 a mysterious fire, that may have been sabotage, destroyed 9 acres of containers. It burned

Simon Norfolk