July 2004

Afghanistan, after more than 30 years of war it is actually merely a moonscape. Even in the capital city Kabul almost every house is destroyed – or it is about to be destroyed. In July 2004, when I arrived at Kabul International Airport (KAIA) at 5AM and stumbled out of a Transall, I thought I had landed in Stone Age. No tree, no bush and no green leaf could be seen anywhere near. The sunrise over the Hindu-Kush Mountains felt like end time. Read more

Near Bagrame, Afghanistan, July 2004
Girl in the district of Siah Sang, Kabul, July 2004
Kabul, Afghanistan, July 2004
On patrol near Bagrame, Afghanistan, July 2004
Kabul Airport, 5am , Afghanistan, July 2004
Kabul City, Afghanistan, July 2004
Tank cemetery north of Kabul, Afghanistan, July 2004
Kabul, Afghanistan, July 2004
Butcher street in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 2004
Girl doing field work, Bagrame, July 2004
Afghanistan, July 2004
Afghanistan, July 2004
Reconnaissance team near Baktiaran, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, July 2004
Tea-time during house construction, Udkhal, Afghanistan, July 2004
Butcher street of Kabul, Afghanistan, July 2004
Butcher street of Kabul, Afghanistan, July 2004
Near Butkhak along the Jalalabad-Road, Afghanistan, July 2004
Canadian Stryker-Team at a tank cemetery, Kabul, Afghanistan, July 2004
Afghanistan, July 2004
Afghanistan, July 2004
Afghanistan, July 2004
Karga, Afghanistan, July 2004
Early morning patrol near Butkhak, Afghanistan, July 2004
Preparing the take-off of a reconnaissance drone, Afghanistan 2004
Kabul City, Afghanistan, July 2004
Camp Warehouse, Afghanistan, July 2004
Tank cemetery from soviet times, Kabul, Afghanistan, July 2004
Near the Mausoleum above Kabul, Afghanistan, July 2004
Kabul, Afghanistan, July 2004
Kabul, Afghanistan, July 2004
On the way to the market of Kabul, July 2004
On the Jalalabad Road near Bagrame, July 2004
Waiting for a ride, Tangikalay, Afghanistan, July 2004
Bei Bagrame, Afghanistan, Juli 2004

Out of the darkness, the rising sun displays ruins of houses, full of bullet-holes, in which people sat at the open fire together with their animals. No one knows exactly how many thousands of refugees come from the sparse rural areas to the capital every day and night. And no one knows who is a Taliban or terrorist. No one knows exactly how many people live in Kabul actually. And why? Yes, why? Even if one would blind out the constant bomb attacks, rocket assaults and fire attacks on police stations, schools, western aid organisations and ISAF forces; the temperature will still rise to 40° Celsius already by 9am in the morning. In addition, the very fine ochre-coloured sand dust, which creeps in every crack and every pore, together with the aridity, make sure that after five days in Afghanistan one’s nose will bleed regularly. In July 2004, the area around Kabul was relatively peaceful, if one might describe it like that for Afghan conditions. It is important to know that the different tribes in Afghanistan are in feuds with each other. Therefore, it might even happen in the capital city that a missile is fired in the front garden from one side of the street to the other.