[A]s a still photographer . . . the people involved, the interactions of people with their environment, is what I'm trying to capture and document.

Robert Nickelsberg was a TIME magazine contract photographer for 25 years. Based in New Delhi, he documented conflicts in Kashmir, Iraq, Sri Lanka, India, and Afghanistan. His book Afghanistan: A Distant War contains photos he has taken in the country since the 1980s.

He was one of the few photographers who had firsthand exposure to the early days of the rise of fundamentalist groups in the Afghanistan-Pakistan tribal areas and al-Qaeda. His photographs provided a unique view of the Soviet withdrawal, the U.S. invasion, and the rise of the Taliban.

His work has also appeared on The New York Times' Lens blog, and in Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and on CNN and NBC. His photographs have been exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the International Center of Photography in New York City, and The New American Foundation in Washington, D.C.