31 Mesmerizing Pictures From A Remote Part Of Afghanistan That Is Still Untouched By War

In the late 1990s, New York-based photographer Frédéric Lagrange became obsessed with traveling to Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor, after reading A Short Walk In The Hindu Kush, English writer Eric Newby's seminal travelogue of his adventures in the area.

He made plans to visit, but then 9/11 happened, and the American invasion quashed any plans. The trip was too dangerous.

In 2012, with the war cooling down, Lagrange finally made the trip he had been dreaming about.

The Wakhan Corridor is a narrow strip of land in the far northeast of Afghanistan, bordering Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Western China. The harsh, beautiful landscape, bounded by the Hindu Kush mountains on the south, was once used as a major trading route for those traveling the Silk Road to China.

For three weeks, Lagrange and a team of locals made their up the Hindu Kush mountains to the shores of Lake Chaqmaqtin.

Along the way, Lagrange photographed the local peoples, who survive on the edge of civilization by raising and herding cattle. He shared some photos from his journey with us, but you can check out the rest at his website.