The Circuit (45 page)

Riyadh’s glittering city centre. Saudi Arabia, 2004.

Two traumatized brothers stand outside their bullet-ridden school, located in the neighbourhood where Saudi troops engaged in a heated battle with militants at an al-Qaeda safe house. Many have mistaken the location in this photograph for Baghdad. Riyadh, 2004.

A footbridge over the filthy Kabul River, a health hazard which has yet to be tackled by the international community. Kabul, 2005.

Security on a mosque rooftop. Kabul, 2005.

A US commercial CP team looking after Afghan President Karzai assumes what I view as an overly aggressive stance. This kind
of modus operandi
reflects very poorly on a client. Afghanistan, 2005.

You’re never far from poverty in Kabul. A mother and two children begging on a street corner. Afghanistan, 2006.

Instructing a diplomatic CP team on a live fire drill. I’m second from left. Afghanistan, 2006.

Yasir Arafat holds his first meeting following the ten-day siege of his compound. Ramallah, 2002.

Me with Yasir Arafat following Operation Defensive Shield. Ramallah, 2002.

Me with Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the father of Palestinian suicide bombing. Gaza City, 2002.

The man claiming to be an ex-bodyguard of Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Omar. I took this picture covertly whilst observing him through my ‘big camera’ prior to our arranged meeting on the banks of the Helmund River. Lashkar Gah, 2004.

The group of young Taliban I approached by the banks of the Helmund River. Lashkar Gah, 2004.

Afghan warlord Patcha Khan of Zadran addressing his tribal elders. He had just closed a critical commercial route through his fiefdom. Paktia province, 2004.