Best Photos of the Week
Gul Dara, Afghanistan
Friends and relatives of Agence France Presse’s chief photographer in Afghanistan, Shah Marai Faizi, pray as they gather for his burial. Marai, who leaves behind six children, was one of at least nine journalists killed in twin suicide bomb attacks that rocked the Afghan capital. At least another 16 people were killed in the blasts.
Photograph: Andrew Quilty/AFP/Getty Images
I would like to see photos taken of the Korean War, Prisoner of War exchange, in September 1953, “Operation Big Switch”. I know there were thousands of photos taken, (I was there), but for some reason they have disappeared. Even the National Archives in College Park, MD, which has a few, cannot explain where all the others went. The late Al Chang, a US Army photographer, told me he himself took several hundred photos of returning US POW’s, plus hundreds of photos taken by the dozens of other photographers, military and civilian, who were there also. Is the US government holding something back from us? With all the scandals coming to light lately, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to learn they confiscated these photos also, for some obscure reason that only they know.