© Micah Garen

A poppy farmer in Marja, from Marja’s Hearts and Minds, a photo essay published as a web exclusive for Vanity Fair.  Micah Garen traveled to the southern Afghan city of Marja, site of a major offensive this past February, with a Wisner 4×5 field camera to photograph the diverse cast of characters—soldiers, elders, farmers, even robots—whose actions will decide the mission’s outcome.  To learn more about his documentary,Pashtunistan, and see more of Micah’s work click here.

© Ricardo Garcia Vilanova for the Wall Street Journal

Members of the the 2nd Platoon Company, Charlie Company, 2/508 PIR, 4BCT Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division were injured after two mines exploded in Afghanistan’s Arghanab Valley. Pfc. Jorge Rostra Obando, shown above, was stunned by the explosion. While he was handed a cigarette, Obando requested that Staff Sgt. Edward Rosa read Psalm 91 from the Bible, the passage that his mother used to read during his childhood. See more of Ricardo’s work from Afghanistan on his blog and website.

WARNING: graphic depictions of battle scenes and casualties to follow.
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All photos © Peter van Agtmael / Magnum Photos / The New York Times Magazine

General Stanley A. McChrystal meets with U.S. and Afghan commanders at Forward Operating Base Delhi in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Peter van Agtmael documented General McChrystal and the challenges facing American forces in Afghanistan.

Van Agtmael’s series is included in the PDN Photo Annual 2010 online gallery.

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Photo by Matthieu Paley. Portrait of Marbet, 7, returning from looking over sheep ouside. Her red cheeks are literally burned by cold. This photo is from an expedition through the Wakhan Corridor and into the Afghanin Pamir mountains in Afghanistan in January and February of 2008 to document the life of the Afghan Kyrgyz tribe. The story was published in German magazine GEO under photo editor Ruth Eichhorn.

Paley won a $3,000 cash prize through the Marty Forscher Fellowship Fund, sponsored by Parsons The New School for Design and PDN. The award is judged by Marty Forscher, Michelle Bogre and Peter B. Kaplan.

Editors’ note: All this week on the PDN Photo of the Day blog, we’re highlighting winners of the PDN Photo Annual. To see more, please view our online winners gallery.

U.S. Air Force photo by Roland Balik. U.S. Air Force airmen transfer the remains of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip A. Myers, 30, of Hopewell, Virginia, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, April 5, 2009. Myers was killed by an improvised explosive device near Helmand province, Afghanistan on April 4.

This was the first time in recent years that a dignified transfer at Dover was open to press coverage. Learn more in this PDN story.

Six more photos by Roland Balik are below. (more…)