Afghanistan: Now and Then

 

Afghanistan: January 2013   In early January, President Barack Obama met with Afghan president Hamid Karzai, indicating a series of decisions that may accelerate the planned handover of power to the government of Afghanistan. Terms are still being negotiated, and final troop levels have yet to be decided, but NATO troops will be withdrawing from villages this spring, and prisons holding terrorism suspects will soon be under Afghan control. One big condition still left unsettled: an immunity agreement in which remaining U.S. troops would not subjected to Afghan law. These photos show just a glimpse of this conflict over the past month, part of the ongoing series here on An Afghan man stands outside a compound near the town of Hutal in Maywand District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, January 20, 2013.(Reuters/Andrew Burton) 2 A United States gun crew fire illumination rounds at Forward Operating Base Hadrian. The 1st Section Bravo Battery 1-9 Field Artillery from Fort Stewart Georgia, have been conducting intensive training and fire missions to support operations in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. The gunners, based out of Forward Operating Base Hadrian in Deh Rawud district, are tasked with providing offensive support to Combined Team Uruzgan missions using M777 A2 Howitzers. (Australian Army/Captain Jesse Platz, 7 RAR Task Group) # 3 An Afghan local policeman listens to speeches during a graduation ceremony in Herat west of Kabul, on January 10, 2013. Around 250 police security forces including 10 policewomen officers and 50 local policemen graduated after receiving six months of training at a police training center in Herat. (AP Photo/Hoshang Hashimi) # 4 Afghan children slide down a snow-covered slope in Kabul, on January 18, 2013. (Reuters/Mohammad Ismail) # 5 Senior Airman Hugo Garcia, 455th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection lab journeyman, pours magnetic particles over an A-10 wheel bolt at Bagram Air Field, on January 21, 2013. A magnetic particle solution is used to fill any cracks in a suspected damaged piece of equipment which will then glow under a black light to determine whether it is damaged. (USAF/Senior Airman Chris Willis) # 6 A victim at the scene of a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul, on January 16, 2013. Six militants -- one driving a car packed with explosives -- attacked the gate of the Afghan intelligence service in the capital Kabul on Wednesday, setting off a blast that could be heard throughout downtown and which sent a plume of dark smoke rising into the sky. (AP Photo/Ahmad Jamshid) # 7 An Afghan truck driver peers through the broken windshield of his vehicle at the site of a suicide attack near the Afghan intelligence agency headquarters in Kabul, on January 16, 2013. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images) # 8 A wounded Afghan boy, at the site of a car bomb attack in Kabul, on January 16, 2013. A car bomb exploded in front of the gates of the Afghan intelligence agency on Wednesday, Reuters witnesses said, near heavily barricaded government buildings and Western embassies.(Reuters/Omar Sobhani) # 9 An Afghan National Army soldier, assigned to 1st Kandak, 4th Brigade, 201st Corps, searches a local national for explosives and weapons during ANA clearing operations near Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, on January 15, 2013. (U.S. Army/Spc. Ryan Hallgarth) # 10 An Afghan student practices playing the guitar in a class at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul, on January 9, 2013. Dozens of Afghan teenagers including former street kids or orphans aged 10 to 22, will be playing in the Afghan Youth Orchestra which begins a 12-day U.S. tour on February 3 and includes concerts at Washington's Kennedy Center -- President Barrack Obama has been invited -- New York's Carnegie Hall and the New England Conservatory in Boston. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq) # 11 A member of a U.S. Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team patrols a patch of farm land during a mission near Command Outpost AJK (short for Azim-Jan-Kariz, a nearby village) in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province, on January 30, 2013. (Reuters/Andrew Burton) # 12 Members of the 455th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron clear snow around an A-10 Thunderbolt II at Bagram Air Field, on January 13, 2013. (USAF/Senior Airman Chris Willis) # 13 A letter written to U.S. soldiers, taped to a refrigerator at Command Outpost AJK in Kandahar Province, on February 2, 2013.(Reuters/Andrew Burton) # 14 A Pakistani fireman extinguishes burning NATO supply truck in Quetta on January 11, 2013, after unidentified men fired rockets on NATO containers carrying goods for international troops operating in Afghanistan, killing one person and destroying at least five vehicles in the Hazar Ganji area on the outskirts of Quetta. (Banaras Khan/AFP/Getty Images) # 15 Six UH-60L Black Hawks and two CH-47F Chinooks, assigned to Task Force Brawler, 4th Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, Task Force Falcon, simultaneously launch a daytime mission on January 18, 2013, from Multinational Base Tarin Kowt. (US Army) # 16 A 10-year-old girl injured by an improvised explosive device waits for a helicopter to evacuate her for further medical attention from strong point DeMaiwand, Maywand District, Kandahar Province, on January 18, 2013. The IED also injured a 25-year-old man, who had both legs blown off. (Reuters/Andrew Burton) # 17 A Boeing C-17 Globemaster III shuts down after landing at Bagram Air Field, to wait for its cargo to off-load.(U.S. Army/1st Lt. Henry Chan) # 18 Afghan midwives attend their graduation ceremony at the governor's house, in Jalalabad east of Kabul, on January 16, 2013. Over 52 midwives graduated after receiving 2 year of training in Jalalabad. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) # 19 Afghan boys play on a frozen lake in Kabul, on January 9, 2013. (Reuters/Mohammad Ismail) # 20 Members of the Afghan National Security Forces wait for U.S. troops before the detonation of confiscated IEDs near Combat Outpost Hutal in Maiwand District, on January 21, 2013. (Reuters/Andrew Burton) # 21 A man looks through the barrel of a D-30 Howitzer for debris prior to a test fire at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul, on January 6, 2013. (U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kleynia R. McKnight) # 22 Afghan day labourers skin cow heads in Kabul, on February 4, 2013. Over a third of Afghans are living in abject poverty, as those in power are more concerned about addressing their vested interests rather than the basic needs of the population, a UN report said.(Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images) # 23 Black smoke billows from the Afghan police headquarters during an attack in Kabul on January 21, 2013. NATO troops joined a fight against a Taliban suicide squad that stormed a Kabul police headquarters, unleashing a stand-off that lasted for more than eight hours.(Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images) # 24 Afghan security officers on the roof of the Kabul traffic police headquarters as it was under attack by insurgents in Kabul, on January 21, 2013.(AP Photo/Ahmad Jamshid) # 25 Afghan security force members look through a broken window after a clash between Afghan forces and Taliban fighters in Kabul, on January 21, 2013. NATO troops joined a fight against a Taliban suicide squad that stormed a Kabul police headquarters at dawn on January 21, killing three police officers. The Taliban claimed the attack, which turned into the longest stand-off between the insurgents and security forces in Kabul since a major coordinated raid on the capital lasted 18 hours in April last year. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images) # 26 An Afghan and coalition security force provide security during a mission that detained six Taliban insurgents in Nerkh district, on January 14, 2013. The detained Taliban leader facilitated the movement of weapons and IED materials to insurgents throughout Wardak province.(U.S. Army/Pfc. Coty M. Kuhn) # 27 A man hold his bleeding dog after a dog fighting match in Jalalabad, on January 25, 2013. Dog fighting is a popular pastime among Afghans during the winter season as public matches are held every Friday, which is the official weekly holiday in the country. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) # 28 Children crowd around a coalition force member maintaining security in Farah province, on January 24, 2013. (USMC/Sgt. Pete Thibodeau) # 29 A civilian-owned Mil-8 helicopter lifts off after U.S. Army Sgt. Rachel Barrett, a combat medic with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 626th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade "Rakkasans," 101st Airborne Division, attached its cargo via sling load at Forward Operating Base Salerno, on January 9, 2013. Sling load operations are used to get supplies and equipment to smaller, less accessible combat outposts.(U.S. Army/Spc. Alex Kirk Amen) # 30 Afghan journalists and policemen at the site of a blast in Mazar-i Sharif, on January 24, 2013. A landmine exploded on a street near the US consulate in the capital of the northern province Balkh leaving an Afghan guard wounded, Afghan officials said.(Qais Usyan/AFP/Getty Images) # 31 Afghans gather to watch as a man participates in a traditional archery match in Ghazni city, on January 28, 2013.(Rahmatullah Alizad/AFP/Getty Images) # 32 An Afghan man, one of a group gathered by the Afghan Uniform Police, is finger-printed and photographed for registration by U.S. troops outside Command Outpost AJK in Kandahar Province, on January 27, 2013. (Reuters/Andrew Burton) # 33 An IED detonates underneath a vehicle during a patrol outside Command Outpost AJK in Kandahar Province, on January 28, 2013. No one was killed in the attack. (Reuters/Andrew Burton) # 34 Afghan youths play in the snow in Kabul, on February 4, 2013. As winter sets in across Central Asia, many Afghans struggle to provide adequate food and shelter for their families. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images) # 35 Sergeant Scott Weaver, of The Queens Royal Lancers launches a newly issued Black Hornet miniature surveillance helicopter during an operation in Afghanistan. The Scandinavian-designed Black Hornet Nano weighs as little as 16 grams (0.56 ounces) -- the same as a finch. The four-inch-long (10-centimeter-long) helicopter is fitted with a tiny camera which relays still images and video to a remote terminal. Troops used the drone to look for insurgent firing points and check out exposed areas of the ground before crossing. (AP Photo/Sgt. Ruper Frere) # 36 Latifa Azizi waits with other performers to perform in the "Afghan star" talent show in Kabul, on January 23, 2013. Azizi and her family fled Mazar for the Afghan capital, Kabul, soon after she appeared on the show in November. Her community was angry with her appearance, saying it was un-Islamic for a woman to sing and appear on television. The family began to receive death threats. (Reuters/Omar Sobhani) # 37 People cheer during the "Afghan star" talent show in Kabul, on January 23, 2013. (Reuters/Omar Sobhani) # 38 U.S. Army soldiers carry the flag-draped transfer case containing the remains of U.S. Army Sgt. David J. Chambers, during a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base, on January 19, 2013 in Dover, Delaware. Chambers, who was from Hampton, Virginia, was killed while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images) # 39 The tracks of a U.S. Army vehicle, during a mission near Command Outpost Pa'in Kalay, Kandahar Province, on February 3, 2013.(Reuters/Andrew Burton)

Remembering 1960s Afghanistan

Remembering 1960s Afghanistan, the photographs of Bill Podlich   In 1967, Dr. William Podlich took a two-year leave of absence from teaching at Arizona State University and began a stint with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to teach in the Higher Teachers College in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he served as the “Expert on Principles of Education.” His wife Margaret and two daughters, Peg and Jan, came with him. Then teenagers, the Podlich sisters attended high school at the American International School of Kabul, which catered to the children of American and other foreigners living and working in the country. Outside of higher education, Dr. Podlich was a prolific amateur photographer and he documented his family’s experience and daily life in Kabul, rendering frame after frame of a serene, idyllic Afghanistan. Only about a decade before the 1979 Soviet invasion, Dr. Podlich and his family experienced a thriving, modernizing country. These images, taken from 1967-68, show a stark contrast to the war torn scenes associated with Afghanistan today. “When I look at my dad’s photos, I remember Afghanistan as a country with thousands of years of history and culture,” recalls Peg Podlich. “It has been a gut-wrenching experience to watch and hear about the profound suffering, which has occurred in Afghanistan during the battles of war for nearly 40 years. Fierce and proud yet fun loving people have been beaten down by terrible forces.” More of Dr. Podlich’s images are available on a website maintained by Peg’s husband Clayton Esterson. “I have taken on the role as family archivist and when Bill Podlich gave us his extensive slide collection, I immediately recognized the historical significance of the pictures.” says Esterson. “Many Afghans have written comments [on the website] showing their appreciation for the photographs that show what their country was like before 33 years of war. This makes the effort to digitize and restore these photographs worthwhile.” 1 "I grew up in Tempe, Arizona, and when my dad offered my younger sister, Jan, and me the chance to go with him and our mother to Afghanistan, I was excited about the opportunity. I would spend my senior year in high school in some exotic country, not in ordinary Tempe... Of course, there were loads of cultural differences between Arizona and Afghanistan, but I had very interesting and entertaining experiences. People always seemed friendly and helpful. I never got into any real difficulties or scrapes, even though I was a fairly clueless teenager! Times were more gentle back then." - Peg Podlich (Pictured at right). # 2 Kabul Gorge or locally known as Tang-i-Gharoo which led to the Darae Maiee-Par (Flying Fish Valley). This is the highway which connects Kabul with the province city of Jalalabad. # 3 "In the spring of 1968, my family took a public, long-distance Afghan bus through the Khyber Pass to visit Pakistan (Peshawar and Lahore). The road was rather bumpy in that direction, too. As I recall, it was somewhat harrowing at certain points with a steep drop off on one side and a mountain straight up on the other! I remember that, before we left Kabul, my father paid for a young man to go around the bus with a smoking censor to bless the bus or ward off the evil eye. I guess it worked - we had a safe trip." - Peg Podlich. # 4 Peg Podlich, in the sun glasses, taking a family trip on a bus going from Kabul, Afghanistan to Peshawar, Pakistan. # 5 Guard duty at the King's Palace in Kabul. # 6 An Afghan teacher. "The Higher Teachers College was a two-year institution for training college-level teachers, located at Seh Aqrab Road and Pul-e-Surkh Road (on the west side of Kabul, near Karte-Seh)." - Peg Podlich # 7 Afghan girls coming home from school. "Afghan girls, as well as boys, were educated up to the high school level, and although girls (and boys) wore uniforms, the girls were not allowed to wear a chadri (burka) on their way to secondary school. Able young women attended college, as did the men." - Peg Podlich # 8 Gas Station. # 9 The Salang Tunnel, located in Parwan province, is a link between northern and southern Afghanistan crossing the Hindu Kush mountain range under the difficult Salang Pass. The Soviet-built tunnel opened in 1964. # 10 (L-R) Jan and Peg Podlich at Paghman Gardens, which was destroyed during the years of war before the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. # 11 King's Hill in Paghman Gardens. "If you look at photos of the devastation of Europe or Asia after WWII and compare them with what you see nowadays or from pre-war times, you can get a similar feeling while looking at these photos from Afghanistan in the late 1960s... Perhaps looking at these old pictures when Afghanistan was a land of peace can encourage folks to see Afghanistan and its people as they were and could be. It is important to know that we have more in common with people in other lands than what separates us." - Peg Podlich # 12 Young Afghans walking home. # 13 A residential hillside in Kabul. "For the year that I was in Kabul, my family lived in a house in Shari-Nau, up the road from the Shari-Nau Park.Ę My parents had lived in Denver, Colorado in the 1940s. My mother would say that Kabul reminded her of Denver: about a mile in altitude, often sunny, with beautiful mountains in the distance. I thought it seemed somewhat like Arizona because of the arid landscape and lack of rain. Since I was born [in Arizona], it was very easy for me to appreciate the stark beauty of the landscape there in Afghanistan." - Peg Podlich. # 14 A group of young Afghans share tea and music. # 15 Frying jilabee, a sweet dessert. # 16 Sisters pose for a photograph in Kabul. # 17 Chemistry lesson in a mud-walled classroom. # 18 Parking lot of the American International School of Kabul (AISK). The school no longer exists, although alumni stay in touch through Facebook and hold reunions every few years at different cities around the U.S. The next reunion will be held in Boston in 2013. "AISK's last year was 1979, so the school had a 20 year history. AISK was located on the same campus that currently houses the American University of Afghanistan (on Darul-aman Rd in west Kabul). In 1967-68, there were about 250 students attending AISK and 18 graduating seniors." - Peg Podlich # 19 Masjid Shah-e-do Shamsheera in Kabul. # 20 Afghan workers make a street repair in Kabul. # 21 An Afghan Army parade through Kabul. # 22 Afghan military band. # 23 New Year's Celebration. # 24 Carving detail on an arch. # 25 A mosque building stands west to the mausoleum of King Abdul Rahman -- in the present Zarnigar Park, center of Kabul -- which was the Bostan Serai built by King Habibullah (son of King Abdul Rahman). Today is stands as a store room for the Department of Preservation of Monuments, Ministry of Culture. # 26 Students at the Higher Teachers College of Kabul where Dr. Podlich, the photographer, worked and taught for two year's with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). # 27 Young students dancing to music on a school playground. # 28 Hotel Intercontinental. The hotel has been attacked on and off since Soviet forces left in 1992, most recently by suicide bombers in June 2011. It is still in operation and was used by western journalists during the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. # 29 American International School of Kabul (AISK), Senior English class. Peg Podlich is on the left. "I was in my senior year (my final year) of high school and I attended the American International School of Kabul out on Darul-aman Road. In Tempe, I had walked four blocks to school; in Kabul a school bus stopped outside our home. Jan and I ran out when the driver honked the horn. On the bus, we were supervised by Indian ladies, wearing saris of course, and were driven with about 20 kids back through Kabul, around the hill to the west side of town." - Peg Podlich # 30 Jan Podlich on a shopping trip in Istalif. Jan in a short, sleeveless dress and the woman to the right in a chadri (burka). "We arrived in Kabul one sunshiny morning in June... My dad met us and was able to whisk us through the customs. We proceeded into Kabul in a UN 'kombi' (kind of an old school SUV). I was tired, but I can remember being amazed at the sight of colorful (dark blue, green and maroon) ghosts that were wafting along the side of the road. My dad explained there were women underneath those chadris, and that some women had to wear them out in public. We never called the garments burkas... Depending on the country, women practicing purdah (Islamic custom requiring women to cover up) wear different styles of coverings, which have different names." - Peg Podlich. # 31 An Afghan boy decorates cakes. # 32 Young men cooking kebabs. "... Don't get me started about the smell and taste of lamb kebobs straight from the brazier! Yum! We had a naan oven not so far from the house. That was completely fascinating to watch the baker shape the naan, make slits in it with his fingers, pick up a stick and - in a quick, smooth motion - pick up the dough, bend over the hole in the top of the oven and plunk the naan smack dab on the side wall of the oven. After the correct number of minutes, he would reach in and tug the baked bread off the wall with the same stick and pull it right out. During that operation, he did not get burned by the fire, blazing away on the floor in the center of the oven. It was almost like a seated dance, really; the movements were that graceful." - Peg Podlich # 33 Men and boys washing and swimming in the Kabul River. # 34 A group of Afghan men look out over Istalif, about 18 miles northwest of Kabul, which was a centuries-old center of pottery making and other tourist attractions. The village was nearly destroyed by major fighting between "Northern Alliance" forces and the Taliban in the late 1990s. # 35 A Buddha statue in Bamiyan Valley- a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The two largest statues (not pictured here) were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. "That was a bumpy, rough trip, but I'll never forget how wide and green the valley was or how monumental those two Buddha statues were, carved into the face of the cliff... The statues were a magnificent sight, even to someone like me, who did not really understand the history or technical achievement of those statues." - Peg Podlich# 36 According to UNESCO, "The cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley represent the artistic and religious developments which from the 1st to the 13th centuries characterized ancient Bakhtria, integrating various cultural influences into the Gandhara school of Buddhist art. The area contains numerous Buddhist monastic ensembles and sanctuaries, as well as fortified edifices from the Islamic period. The site is also testimony to the tragic destruction by the Taliban of the two standing Buddha statues, which shook the world in March 2001." # 37 Dr. Bill Podlich on a hillside in Kabul. "My dad was a professor of Elementary Education, specializing in teaching Social Studies, at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona from 1949 until he retired in 1981. He had always said that since he had served in WWII... he wanted to serve in the cause of peace. In 1967, he was hired by UNESCO as an Expert on Principles of Education, for a two-year stint in Kabul, Afghanistan at the Higher Teachers College... Throughout his adult life, because he was interested in social studies, whenever he traveled around (in Arizona, to Mexico and other places), he continued to take pictures. In Afghanistan he took half-frame color slides (on Kodachrome), and I believe he used a small Olympus camera." - Peg Podlich.