A Few Miles from ISIS | Explorer

I covered the war in southern Iraq as a journalist, but never set foot in the north until after the Americans had gone. I couldn't believe it was the same country. The city of Sulimania is a liberal island in a region flooded with extremism. Enemies are all around; Isis is just 2 hours away.

My name is Neil Shay, and I'm a writer with National Geographic magazine. I'm on assignment in Northern Iraq for a story on the Kurds, a Muslim minority and a crucial Western ally in the battle against Isis. The Kurds are an ancient people with their own language and culture, and today they're scattered across Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq. Here in Iraq, the Kurds control a territory the size of Switzerland, and though they officially remain part of Iraq, they have their own president, their own Parliament, and their own moderate form of Islamic democracy. All of that is now under threat.

It's a couple of hours before sunrise. We're going to meet up with an Iraqi police unit that's going out looking for Isis fighters around the city of Kir Cook. I'm leaving the safety of Sulimania and heading south toward Kir Cook, toward Isis-held territory, and a police commander charged with keeping the city safe from jihadis.

How is my friend and my fixer? He's a Kurdish photojournalist who's helping me chase leads and meet the right people. He was also born and raised in Kir Cook, and he's lived through all the recent wars. It's the time of wild dogs in the city; this is when they feel free to roam.

Kirkuk is an oil-rich city in the middle of Iraq, and it's also the country's melting pot. In Kir Cook's dense neighborhoods, Christians live beside Muslims, Kurds live beside Arabs, and everyone lives just a few miles from Isis. In 2014, the Kurds stepped up to stop militants from capturing Kir Cook, but fear still stains everything here.