A family sits outside their home in the remote Afghan village of Khandud in northeastern Afghanistan. From the Soviet invasion to the Taliban takeover and anti-Taliban resistance, the Wakhan Corridor has remained largely free of strife. / Photo & caption by Diana Markosian

Dzhenet Achalimova, 25, stands beside her two children in their home in Kirov-Aul, Dagestan. Achalimova says her husband, Magomed Nasibov, 31, along with his cousin were abducted and killed by men in camouflage in Russia’s volatile republic of Dagestan. / Photo & caption by Diana Markosian

A light beam shines on an Afghan woman as she bakes bread in the border town of Ishkashim, Afghanistan. More than 12,000 people live in the 220-mile corridor, a series of broad valleys and high-altitude plateaus carved by the Panj River. / Photo & caption by Diana Markosian

The Dead Sea extends like a shimmering sheet of turquoise toward the hazy mountains of Jordan. The ancient salt sea is the site of a looming environmental catastrophe with water levels falling at an average rate of three feet per year. / Photo & caption by Diana Markosian