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Photograph of former mayor of Kandahar and his family in North Virginia. Ghulam Haider Hamadi fled to the US and found an accounting job in Alexandria in 2007 but still returned to help the Afgani people and his half-brother, President Hamid Karzai, by taking up the role of Kandahar’s mayor. Hamadi was killed last summer by a suicide bomber.

From Reflections from Afganistan

Many from the West see Afghan women as being oppressed, because they wear a covering.

However, Afghans see the same covering as part of their protection.  It shows they are good women and provides them the protection when they are away from their families.

Families in this country, do limit their women and girls freedom, both in terms of leaving the house and in terms of choices that are available to them, in order to provide protection.

For the record, I am against the practice of head covering, or hijab, in Western countries. In Afganistan, however, girls have had their schools gassed and have had battery acid sprayed onto their faces by strangers. 

It’s dangerous to associate yourself with ‘Western’ ideas, especially if you’re a girl. 

nothingisworththousandsofdeaths:

Tailor’s shop, Afghanistan Mazar-e-Shariff, Balkh Province, Afghanistan. (Source: Michal Przedlacki)

lifepiledonlife:

Arzu Tribal Heirloom Hope Rug

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Asan Bibi ,9, (R) and her sister Salima,13, (L) stand in the hallway of Mirwais hospital, both burn vctims when a helicopter fired into their tent in the middle of the night on October 3rd, according to their father October 13, 2009 Kandahar, Afghanistan. Three members of the family were killed in the incident.The family belong to the Kuchi ethnic tribe who are nomads living in tents out in the open desert and are very vunerable to a war they have little understanding of. 2009 was the deadliest year in terms of civilian casualties in Afghanistan ever since the start of the U.S.-led war against Taliban in the country. This photo essay takes a look at some of the victims of war, both civilian and military who are injured from both insurgent and foreign military action. The number of Afghan civilians being killed by foreign military operations has led to mounting tension between the various foreign countries and the Afghan government. More brazen suicide attacks and IED blasts are taking place in densely populated areas to create a bigger impact as more of Afghan’s war wounded hit the headlines.

Photography by Paula Bronstein

nothingisworththousandsofdeaths:

From the book Afghanistan (p. 77-78) by Louis Dupree.

(via ajal)

(Afghanistan by Steve McCurry)

(via beyondcloudnine)