SAMANTHA APPLETON

Karzai's Afghanistan

  • Afghans watch the popular sport of Buzkashi in Kabul. The sport originated in northern Afghanistan and involves a battle, on horses, over a headless goat.
  • Afghans drink tea in the popular Bird Street market in Kabul. The birds are used as pets and for fighting on Fridays.
  • Afghan men wait for pick-up construction work. Construction projects dominate the Kabul streets.
  • Afghan president Hamid Karzai holds a press conference with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Kabul. American security guards, right, stand close by Karzai at all times.
  • Downtown Kabul is a mix of old and new now. Construction projects have proliferated in the city but the medieval housing still dominates the rugged hills that ring the city.
  • Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
  • The power of veteran warlord Ismail Khan has been reduced after he was made Minister of Energy, Water and Power. The move, meant to include him in the political process, has also led to a surge of violence in his home province of Herat where he ruled largely on his own before and after the fall of the Taliban.
  • An ethnic Pamiri from the Badakhshan province in the northeasternmost corner of Afghanistan. The delegation of six men waited in Kabul for two months to meet with the president after travelling 27 days to the capitol from their remote village. It takes a minimum 12 day walk on mountain paths just to get to a dirt road from the village.
  • Ethnic Pamiris from the Badakhshan province in the northeasternmost corner of Afghanistan wait in a government guest house for their requests to the government to be met. The delegation of six men waited in Kabul for two months to meet with the president after travelling 27 days to the capitol from their remote village. It takes a minimum 12 day walk along rugged mountain trails just to get to a dirt road from the village.
  • Younis Qanouni, formerly the Afghan minister of culture, says he is setting himself up to be an opposition leader to Karzai. Photographed in his home in Kabul.
  • President Hamid Karzai meets with a delegation from the northeasternmost province of Badekshan.
  • First Lady Zinet Karzai, seated center, attends Women's Day celebrations at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul. This was believed to have been her first public appearance although she did not speak. Afghan Human Rights Commission director Sima Saman is seated on the far left.
  • President Hamid Karzai watches a parade at the Kabul Stadium.
  • Kandahar officials and Pakistani representatives and businessmen share a dinner on National Pakistan Day in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan. An American officer, left, also attended.
  • A group of young filmmakers shoot a scene on Kabul's TV Mountain for a film they plan to call {quote}The Theft.{quote} Media and film culture has proliferated since the fall of the Taliban.
  • The Bird Street Market in Kabul.
  • Evening dust settles over Kabul. Despite the spike in infrastructure and construction, Kabul remains a dirty, largely unlit city.
  • A Friday Buzkashi match in Kabul. The sport is a battle, on horses, over a headless goat.
  • President Karzai walks toward a ceremony celebrating the first day of spring in the Kabul Stadium. He is constantly, and closely, surrounded by American and Afghan security guards.
  • A decoy Blackhawk helicopter in President Karzai's entourage aborts a landing at a road-opening ceremony in Charikar, north of Kabul. The president is constantly surrounded by a large US and Afghan security detail including, on this day, at least 200 soldiers and private security guards, 2 Chinook helicopters, 2 Blackhawk helicopters, 2 Apache helicopters, and at least one fighter jet circling overhead.
  • The referee of a dogfight stirs up the dog owners and crowd as 2 fighters go at it. The pastime is often attended by hundreds if not thousands of Afghans on many Fridays, the muslim day of rest.
  • President Hamid Karzai in his residence in Kabul.
  • A group of veterans and handicapped Afghan men try to protest near President Karzai's compound. Due to the overwhelming security, they didn't get close. Afghanistan's brutal and violent history has resulted in large numbers of handicapped and maimed people. Land mines alone are believed to cause at least 100 casualties a month.
  • President Hamid Karzai leaves his home with aids and security guards.
  • Afghans wait for a dogfight on a Friday morning as two US helicopters fly in the distance.
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Images © 2018 Samantha Appleton. Site design © 2010-2025 Neon Sky Creative Media