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Jean Chung

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33 images Created 20 Aug 2018

Life after the Taliban's Fall 2006~2007

“No one wins war in Afghanistan,” is a phrase someone coined after seeing the world’s superpowers keep losing it. This landlocked country in Central Asia was a passage for the Silk Road, the Mongol Invasion, and the Mogul Empire; and the tomb for The British, the Soviets, and most recently, the United States.
The Taliban, meaning “students” or “seekers” in Pashto, was in power in 1996 to 2001; then in 2021 again. They literally banned anything “un-islamic” from kite-flying to women walking and traveling alone. What was considered accepted in the Western World was the subject of whipping and stone-throwing.
The time I was in Afghanistan was five years after the Taliban’s fall during 2006 and 2007. Until August 10, when I was pulled out of the country by the South Korean government due to the hostage crisis of the South Korean Christians, I tried my best to document the country that was starting to breathe the freedom.
Here’s the documentation of the country through my lenses as an Asian woman. At least in Kabul and above, women were somewhat free to walk around the streets for shopping and running chores without male members of the family. Men were able to fly kites and build muscles at a gym. Although most women still chose to wear Burqa in public places, they took up a good 10% in the government’s seats.
One year out of 20 years of life without Taliban could only be a fraction of time. However, I think I was in the country in the very crucial time and probably one of the best times.
My prayers go to those who allowed me to document the slice of lives of Afghans, who are now witnessing the bitter history repeating itself.
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  • A boy jumps from a concrete diving board into a pool on Bibi Mahro Hill in Wazir Akbar Kahn section in Kabul on one October afternoon. Five years after the fall of the Taliban, children have more freedom to enjoy swimming, exposing their skin in public which was banned during the five-year rule of the one of the most repressive regimes in the world. This swimming pool was said to have been built during the Soviet rule, later used as an execution wall by different warlord factions before Taliban took over the city in 1996.
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  • Kolola Pushta Hill, Kabul, Afghanistan.
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  • An alarming blast early in the March morning from the old city in Kabul killed at least 13 civilians. The police speculated that the explosion was caused by the chain reaction of gun powder in the row of gun shops. Many were also wounded and buried in the rubble as Kabul dealt with yet another accident that happens almost daily.
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  • A coal-covered Afghan miner takes a shower inside a hammam, a public shower, at Karkar Coal Mine in north of Pul-e-Khomri, Baghlan province, Afghanistan. Located 4 km north from Pul-e-Khomri, an industrial city with natural resources such as coal, Karkar mine has survived almost 70 years of its existence. The mine employs 340 workers including office staff, and the miners earned about 80 USD a month in 2006. It used to be aided by a Czech company, however, the aid and partnership had ended in 1989 along the pull of the Soviets.
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  • Afghan bodybuilders show off their muscles before the judges at the semi-finals of the Mr. Kabul competition at the Olympic Stadium, Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, July 4, 2007.  Body building in Afghanistan was highly discouraged during the Taliban rule because it was considered as "un-Islaminc," showing skins to the public. Some body builders wore loose clothes or others were imprisoned. However, six years after the Taliban's fall, Afghans are now free to show off their skin and muscle, and most of all, play loud music and have their own entertainment. However, the growing power of the Taliban in the South worries many Afghans who have enjoyed the freedom in the past six years.
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  • In Badakshan, a remote Afghan province that borders with Tajikistan, villagers have resorted opium as a traditional means of medicine as access to Western medicines and health care were scarce. Mothers become addicted to opium to alleviate the pains. They also feed their babies the same thing mixed with water to calm them down, becoming drug addicts themselves when they grow up. The mother, at left, became addicted, and occasionally fed the opium to her children.
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  • Mohammad Azim, 29, a strong contender for Mr. Kabul in his weight, receives a tanning lotion from his trainer before the semi-finals of the Mr. Kabul competition at the Olympic Stadium, Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, July 4, 2007.
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  • Amina, 13, center, who weaves carpets, is surrounded by her classmates who come in with burqas at the literacy center by an Afghan NGO, HAWCA (Humanitarian Assistance for the Women and Children of Afghanistan), Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 30, 2006. Five years after the Taliban's fall, Afghan women still suffer from illiteracy largely due to the opposition of the male members of the family such as fathers or husbands.
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  • Burqa-clad women in jeans and sneakers walk on the street of Herat, Afghanistan on Thursday, April 5, 2007. Herat, unlike any other cities in Afghanistan, has 24-hour electricity, thanks to the help from Iran, and the women enjoys relative liberty also influenced by Iran. Many Herat women dare to wear jeans and sneakers, a symbol of Westernization, and some times wear chador, an Iranian influence. However, this city used to have a hard-line governor, Ismail Khan, who banned unrelated men and women from walking together in public, and if caught, they were medically examined in the hospital.
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  • A mental patient rinses his mouth at Jalalabad Mental Hospital in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan on Saturday, March 17, 2007. Funded by Ministry of Public Health, this hospital has 20 patients now, half of them were effected by war and conflict. Five and half years after the Taliban's fall and more than two decades of war, many Afghans suffer from mental illnesses such as depression, domestic violence, anger, and drug abuse. With the lack of qualified personnel and institutions, there are only 60-bed mental hospital in Kabul, and 20 in Jalalabad, 12 in Herat, and 12 in Mazar-e-Sharif. However, Afghanistan's public health department is slowly recognizing the milder and more modern approach for mentally ill patients such as prescribing Western medicine instead of using chains.
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  • A mother holding her son stands in their refuge in an abandoned concrete building in Khushal Khan, Kabul. This building, supposedly built during the Soviet time, had been severely battered by the Civil War, and been occupied by eight internally displaced families from shomali plains. She has 11 children in one section in the building. One of the men said the government tried to demolish the building and would drive these IDP families from here.
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  • An Afghan girl walks inside a snow-covered graveyard in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007. Heavy rain and snow falls in Kabul area for three consecutive days resulted in partial floods collapse of walls, and muddy roads.
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  • Children play in the incomplete apartment building in Macrorayon which stopped its construction during the Soviet rule, Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, June 19, 2007. 13 families from Shomali Plain moved here since the Taliban time around 1999. In 2006, the main group of refugees under UNHCR's mandate continued to be Afghans (2.1 million), followed by Iraqis (1.5 million), Sudanese (686,000), Somalis (460,000), and refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi (about 400,000 each).  In addition to refugees, for a number of years UNHCR has also been helping specific populations of internally displaced people (IDPs). These are people who have also fled their homes because of threats to their safety but who have not crossed any internationally recognised borders. At the end of 2006, the total number of conflict-related IDPs worldwide was estimated at 24.5 million by the Norwegian Refugee Council's Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.
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  • Ssg. Corey Lewis of Bozrah, Conn., (the gunner in the second car) of the US PRT in Mehtarlam, Laghman, Afghanistan, waves at Afghans while a convoy of Humvees drives through the villages, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006. It was the PRT Mehtarlam's first mission after two of their comrades, Sgt. Merideth [cq] Howard of Waukesha, Wi., 52, and Ssg. Robert Paul of Hammond, Ind., have died of a suicide attack on Sept. 8 in Kabul.
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  • Coal-covered Afghan miners take a shower inside a hammam, a public shower, at Karkar Coal Mine in north of Pul-e-Khomri, Baghlan province, Afghanistan, Sunday, Dec. 3, 2006. Coal is one of the main fuel sources in this energy-hungry country used primarily for household fuel and small industries such as cement and textile factories, or bread-baking. There are four mines in Baghlan provinces, Karka, Dudkash, Ahandara, and Khorddra, and Karka is the biggest mine which produces 60 to 70 tons a day. Coal production in Afghanistan is estimated to be about 220,000 tons a year, and the director of Karkar Coal Mines predicts the coal in Afghanistan might last as long as 70 years to come. Karkar employs about 340 workers including administrative staff, among them miners earn about 4000 Afghanis ($80 USD) per month. Since its inception in 1957, the Karkar mine had a contract with a Czech company until 1989, however, it expected to be managed by Afghan Investment Company in Dec. 13, 2006, and became more capitalized under a private company rather than a government agency such as North Coal Department (NCD).
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  • A coal-covered Afghan coal miner at Karkar Coal Mine.
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  • Shar Jan, 53, at left, a barber works inside a hammam, a public shower, cuts the beard of Shokrullah, 50, a coal miner, at Karkar Coal Mine in north of Pul-e-Khomri, Baghlan province.
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  • Female guests of an engagement party dance as young Afghan wedding cameramen videotape the event in a grand ballroom at Safi Landmark Hotel, Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday, Aug 3, 2007. Wedding Industry is a growing business in Afghanistan, especially in the capital city, and the palm tree lights illuminate the buildings at night in this energy-hungry city. Dancing and photographing in the wedding parties were banned during the Taliban. Six years after the Taliban fell, Afghans are now free to dance to the music; however, the growing power of the Taliban worries many Afghans who have enjoyed the freedom in the past six years.
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  • Afghan children watch Afghan villagers and the policemen destroy the poppy field as part of the drug eradication campaign in a village near Jalalabad, Afghanistan on Monday, April 23, 2007. The provincial government of Nangarhar began drug eradication program since early this year, aiming to eradicate 100% of the illegal poppy fields.
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  • Afghan president Hamid Karzai's poster is displayed along the snowy road to the Salang Pass, north of Kabul.
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  • A street photographer shows a portrait photo of a woman as he develops and prints the photo in his box camera which has small trays and chemicals.
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  • An Afghan boy rubs his eyes as a convoy of the 2-87 Unit of 3rd Brigade Tenth Mountain Division, 1-102 Infantry, drives pass his village in Ghazni, Afghanistan, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006. The US troops began conducting Operation Mountain Fury since Sept. 12, 2006, and the platoons from Ghazni FOB had been on a mission, killing at least 17 Taliban fighters in Andar district. Now during the times of Ramadan, the Holy Month for Muslims, the Taliban activities have been dwindled down in the region as units from 102nd Inf. conduct mild operations of Mt. Fury such as village assessments and humanitarian drop-offs, the US troops are still exposed to a danger of hidden combat by the remaining Taliban fighters in this area. Members of 2-87 Unit, comprised with 41 personnel from all over the US aged from 19 to 35. The 102nd Inf., dated back to the Civil War time, from New Haven, Conn., had arrived in Ghazni in April this year and will stay here for one year until it is replaced by another inf. of reservists next April.
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  • An Afghan miner brushes his hair inside a hammam, a public shower, at Karkar Coal Mine.
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  • Afghan youths practices boxing in Akhteri Boxing Club in a Kabul's Khushal Khan area. Many young Afghan boys enjoy sports such as boxing, football, and bodybuilding in a country where source of entertainment is limited.
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  • An Afghan boy rides a bicycle in front of a portrait of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Shi’a Imam, and the fourth Sunni Caliph, an Iranian influence, downtown Herat, Afghanistan on Friday, April 6, 2007. Herat, an ancient city with many historic buildings such as a citadel from the period of Alexander the Great, is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of 349,000. Herat is only 122 km from the Iranian border, thus shows a great deal of Iranian influence in culture and industry. There are Shi'te Imam's pictures on street corners, women wear black chador, and Iranian ready-made foods are piled up in food stands. However, what Herat makes different from other cities is that it is provided with 24-hour electricity from Iran and Turkmenistan, the deal made by a former Herat governor and a warlord, Ismail Khan. Because of the power supply, Herat's factories manufature goods from plastic pipes to ice cream.
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  • Afghan boys deliver warm bread in containers and push trolleys in downtown Herat, Afghanistan on Thursday, April 5, 2007. It is not difficult to see boy laboring in Afghanistan as they are important income sources.
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  • An internally displaced family lives in destroyed building compound in Darulaman in Kabul. There are 10 families from Shomali Plains in this compound, taking over small niches as their temporary refuge. The family said they escaped to Iran, then returned to Kabul in the beginning of the Karzai government.
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  • A medical worker, at left, from an NGO, New Life, examines the blood pressure of a 32-year-old mother, center, who is addicted to opium in Turgani Village, Badakshan province. The mother behind her has been taking opium for five years, and her 2-year-old son, Jamshed, far right, is also addicted. Jamshed was drinking the water diluted with 1g of opium.
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  • A boy flies a kite made of a plastic bag on the Bibi Mahro Hill in Wazir Akbar Khan section of Kabul as the sun sets behind the mountain on one October afternoon in 2006. Kite-flying, an traditional sport popular in central and east Asia, was one of the 'un-islamic' sports which the Taliban had banned during its repressive rule between 1996 and 2001.
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  • Dr. Zaheera Hamayun, at right, moves the baby shortly after a woman gave birth at Faizabad Provincial Hospital in Badakshan province. Faizabad Hospital's maternity unit has the most advanced facility in Badakshan. However, it also suffers from lack of facilities and staff especially female doctors. Afghanistan has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world only after Sierra Leone. An astonishing number of 25,000 women die from obstetric causes per year, or 1 woman dies every 27 minutes. A UN report released in 2000 indicates that the national MMR in Afghanistan was 1,900 per 100,000 live births, whereas it was 17 in the United States. Ragh district in Badakshan province showed the highest mortality risk ever recorded in human history, with 64% - more than half of women - of reproductive age died during 1999 and 2002. The causes of deaths were analyzed mainly in two parts: direct and indirect. Direct causes include haemorrhage, obstructed labour, cardiomyopathy, sepsis, obstetric embolism, and pregrancy-induced hypertension; and the indirect causes were tuberculosis, malaria, and obstetric tetanus. Geographical and economical factors also contribute to high mortality in a place like Badakshan where most people have limited access to transportation thus making it harder for women to reach proper health care centers.
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  • Afghan children in Ghazni wave at a convoy of the 2-87 Unit of 3rd Brigade Tenth Mountain Division, 1-102 Infantry. The US troops began conducting Operation Mountain Fury since Sept. 12, 2006, and the platoons from Ghazni FOB had been on a mission, killing at least 17 Taliban fighters in Andar district. Now during the times of Ramadan, the Holy Month for Muslims, the Taliban activities have been dwindled down in the region as units from 102nd Inf. conduct mild operations of Mt. Fury such as village assessments and humanitarian drop-offs, the US troops are still exposed to a danger of hidden combat by the remaining Taliban fighters in this area. Members of 2-87 Unit, comprised with 41 personnel from all over the US aged from 19 to 35. The 102nd Inf., dated back to the Civil War time, from New Haven, Conn., had arrived in Ghazni in April this year and will stay here for one year until it is replaced by another inf. of reservists next April.
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