War At The Top Of The World

SIACHEN GLACIER, PAKISTAN - JUNE 19: Pakistani Army soldiers watch as an Army helicopter hovers above their military outpost on a spur of the Siachen Glacier at 18,655 feet June 19, 2005 in the Northern Territories of Pakistan. Pakistani soldiers generally spend 90 days at a high altitude base before descending for 20 days of leave. Since 1982-84, the Pakistani Army has been facing off with the Indian Army in a 250-square-mile area of the Himalayan Mountains. Word of an Indian Army incursion first reached the Pakistani military from foreign mountaineers in 1982 when Indian Army troops were seen in the previously unoccupied Siachen Glacier area. Since Partition in 1947, the Siachen Glacier has been considered to be Pakistani territory. The two armies have been fighting costly artillery battles along Himalayan mountain peaks reaching up to 21,000 feet. Since November 2003, there has been a negotiated cease-fire in place and talks continue of a possible pull back from the disputed border area. The two armies suffer a greater number of casualties from frostbite, pulmonary and cerebral edema and high altitude sickness than they do from shelling or bullets. Pakistan keeps an estimated 3000 soldiers in the mountainous area at any one time. India spends an estimated $1 million USD per day to maintain its troops. Figures for Pakistan are similar for strength and outlays. The Siachen Glacier is part of the Karakoram mountain range between Pakistan, China and India. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)