Scenes from the frontlines of America’s never-ending war

Scenes from the frontlines of America’s never-ending war
In 2006, Peter Van Agtmael began documenting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He reflects on the lessons he’s learned as a conflict photographer.

Coming of age in America, Peter Van Agtmael remembers feeling marginalised by a culture that elevated appearance and athleticism above all things. Searching for his own identity, he began dreaming of joining the military.

Van Agtmael would eventually go to war as a conflict photographer. In 2006, he began documenting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, later chronicled in the books Disco Night Sept 11 (Red Hook Editions) and Sorry for the War (Mass Books).

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine dominates media coverage, Van Agtmael reflects on the lessons he learned as a photographer on the frontlines of America’s longest foreign war. “There’s a certain amount of groupthink, especially during wartime, that’s extends across all segments of the media,” he says. “It extends to photography as a desire for the most dramatic and brutal but somehow tasteful images that represent the human cost of war, as well as its melodrama. The pictures start to look the same.”

The Hungarian border closed at midnight to prevent thousands of Syrian and Afghan refugees from entering. Horgos. Serbia, 2015.

Preferring to ask questions, Van Agtmael adopts an ambiguous approach, allowing his photographs to open conversations, rather than provide reductive talking points, stale clichés, or stereotypes. His photographs explore the nature of conflict and the toll it takes physically, psychologically, as well as the way it manifests through both American foreign and domestic policy.

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Van Agtmael reflects on bearing witness to horrific acts of war, and the disconnect between the rhetoric surrounding them in both politics and the media. “It’s a reminder of how unreflective the mainstream media can be about the historical context around these conflicts and the broader policy issues that potentially make them avoidable,” Van Agtmael says.

Adnan Thanon Younis, 53 years old, was blinded by an exploding shell in Mosul, Afghanistan. Photographed in Erbil, Iraq, 2017.

Soldiers raid a hamlet on the outskirts of Mosul after midnight on a winter weekend. Iraq, 2015

“As the conflict goes on and the media starts to lose interest in covering it, there won’t be much of an opportunity to uncover the layers and give this the depth and breadth it deserves,” he says. “I know how fickle and fleeting attention is, and that has a massive impact on the quality of the work that gets produced.”

Seeing the contradiction between the image of Western progressive liberal society and the romanticism and fetishisation of war, Van Agtmael recognises hypocrisy in the discourse. “It leads me to ask, what are these values if we can turn on a dime? I saw the same thing with the anti-racist stance people were taking in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd as well as the questions of gender quality following the Me Too movement,” he says.

“It’s like there’s this performative representation of values on social media, and now we are seeing it as it relates to the military because it’s the fashionable thing to do. I’m steadfastly refusing to post anything even though I have something to say because, like Bob Dylan said, I want to know my song well before I start singing.”

Ku Klux Klan, Tennessee, 2015

The Hungarian border closed at midnight to prevent thousands of Syrian and Afghan refugees from entering. Horgos. Serbia, 2015.

George H. W. Bush announces the launch of Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

Follow Miss Rosen on Twitter. 

Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

Latest on Huck

Bobby Gillespie: “This country is poisoned by class”
Culture

Bobby Gillespie: “This country is poisoned by class”

Primal Scream’s legendary lead singer writes about the band’s latest album ‘Come Ahead’ and the themes of class, conflict and compassion that run throughout it.

Written by: Bobby Gillespie

Vibrant photos of New York’s Downtown performance scene
Photography

Vibrant photos of New York’s Downtown performance scene

‘Balloons and Feathers’ is an eclectic collection of images documenting the scene for over two decades.

Written by: Miss Rosen

Picking through the rubble: Glimpses of hope in the US election results
Activism

Picking through the rubble: Glimpses of hope in the US election results

Clambering through the wreckage of the Harris campaign, delving deeper into the election results and building on the networks that already exist, all hope is not gone writes Ben Smoke.

Written by: Ben Smoke

US Election night 2024 in Texas
Photography

US Election night 2024 in Texas

Photographer Tom “TBow” Bowden travelled to Republican and Democratic watch parties around Houston, capturing their contrasting energies as results began to flow in.

Written by: Isaac Muk

In photos: “Real life is not black and white” – Polaroid x Magnum Open Call winners
Photography

In photos: “Real life is not black and white” – Polaroid x Magnum Open Call winners

See pictures from the competition organised by two titans of contemporary photography, which called upon artists to reject the digitalisation and over-perfectionism of our modern world, technology and image-making.

Written by: Huck

In photos: Rednecks with Paychecks
Photography

In photos: Rednecks with Paychecks

‘American Diesel’ is a new photo series that looks at the people, places and culture behind the stereotypes of rural America.

Written by: Ben Smoke

Sign up to our newsletter

Issue 81: The more than a game issue

Buy it now