A photo exhibition of Romanian journalist Ilie Pintea from Radio Romania Actualități (RRA- News Channel), which brings together aspects of the life of NATO Coalition troops in the theater of operations in Afghanistan, will be displayed starting with December 1st at the Romanian Consulate in Los Angeles (USA), on the occasion of events to mark the Year of the Romania’s Great Union Centenary.

Titled 'Afghanistan: Faces of the War', exhibition presents photographs that have been taken since 2013 by Ilie Pintea, when he accompanied the Romanian battalions in the theater of operations in Afghanistan, as a war correspondent for the Romanian public radio station.

"Now, when we celebrate a century from the Great Union, I think we have the duty to show respect not only to the heroes who made possible the existence of the modern state, but also to those who, even in these moments, are fighting in Afghanistan alongside NATO Coalition. Let us look with gratitude in the past and with confidence in the future, giving our appreciation to the unknowing heroes that make the Romanian-American partnership not only an official treaty, but collaboration and friendship between people. Because people make history, and I'm proud to have been able to write a moment of history, documented through these photos", Ilie Pintea told AGERPRES.

Journalist with extensive experience, RRA war correspondent Ilie Pintea had the opportunity to visit several military bases in Afghanistan and to get to know the life of the simple people in this country.

"For any journalist, people are those who are making the story worthwhile to say, and this is what happened with my travels in Afghanistan: almost every man I've ever met there since 2013 has a story. I traveled with the Romanian soldiers in several bases of this country of contrasts, saw Afghan villages like from another time and gathered faces of the war", pointed out Ilie Pintea.

Photographs taken by RRA war correspondent Ilie Pintea present soldiers both in action and at ease - a guitar forgotten on a backpack or boots lined up at the bedrooms at night.

There are also many portraits of Afghans met during missions in the villages around Kandahar, their faces expressing the way they live there.

Exhibition is organized by Radio Romania and was first displayed last year, also on the National Day, on the Kandahar military base.

"It was a moment of great emotion, especially since the idea of this exhibition came as I wanted to pay a last homage to late Second Lieutenant Mădălin Stoica, killed in Afghanistan - I accompanied him on a mission and I was the journalist who took him the last interview", said Ilie Pintea.

On 29 November 2018, RRA war correspondent Ilie Pintea received the 'Honorary Emblem of the General Staff', awarded on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of Radio Romania for its work in the theater of operations in Afghanistan. Event took place at Headquarters of the Multinational Brigade South East in Craiova.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei