To capture these intimate and unprecedented images, Refsdal risked his life to embed with Dawran and his fighters in Kunar Province -- the northeastern region where al Qaeda is active and Osama bin Laden was once rumored to be hiding.  Q&A: Kidnapped by the Taliban  Refsdal said he doesn't know the number of militants under Dawran's command, but included in their ranks is another of Dawran's sons -- a boy 12 or 13 years old. The son carries a machine gun nearly as large as he is, Refsdal said. "For Dawran ... it's not something bad to send your ... son out to fight," he told CNN's Anderson Cooper, because Dawran believes that "... his son will come to heaven when and if he dies in this war."  There are many different groups that make up the Taliban, and they are fighting for many different reasons. Dawran says he and his men joined the Taliban to drive out foreign forces from his district. "We fight for our freedom, our religion, our honor and we fight for our land," Dawran tells Refsdal. Commanding his forces from a house built of stone and clay, he says he relies on contributions to fund his operation.  Firm casualty figures for both sides in the decade-long war are hard to come by. It's not known how many Taliban forces have been killed fighting U.S.-led coalition forces. According to the Pentagon, more than 2,200 coalition troops have died in Afghanistan since U.S. forces invaded in response to the 9/11 attacks. More than 1,400 Americans are among those coalition deaths.  As he urges his fighters to battle, Dawran questions coalition motives. "For what purpose are they fighting us?" asks Dawran. "Are they oppressed? Have they been treated unfair? Are they living in a dictatorship?"
Rarely seen by outsiders, the daily life of a regional Taliban commander named Dawran and his militant fighters is dominated by extremes: love and war, attack and retreat, life and death.For nine