They look like a movie set...however, it really is Afghanistan...
Feyzabad, Afghanistan —
A U.S. military Chinook helicopter stands ready to receive medical supplies and whooping cough vaccine donated by the World Health Organization.
U.S. officials approved a request by the organization to carry three doctors and enough vaccine to treat 2,000 people to Badhakshan Province, in northern Afghanistan, where an outbreak of whooping cough had claimed the lives of between 70 and 200 children.
Two doctors were from the Afghan Ministry of Public Health and one was from the Aga Khan Development Foundation. Treating the children was complicated by the fact that travel takes three days by horse or mule to get over the mountains to the affected area.
The only other way in is via helicopter. However, the altitude is such that most helicopters can’t fly that high because the air is too thin to provide lift. The affected region is 15,000 feet above sea level. Going over the mountains by pack animal was out of the question simply because the vaccine becomes inert after being un-refrigerated for more than 48 hours.
U.S. Army photo by Spc. Marie Schult