A Taliban militant at a checkpoint outdoors the previous U.S. army base in Bagram, Afghanistan, in October.
As I obtained off the airplane at Kabul’s worldwide airport in September, a gaggle of Taliban fighters was on the tarmac. All of them had been sporting Afghan particular forces uniforms and carried U.S.-made weapons left behind within the chaos of America’s rushed withdrawal. Six weeks prior, I had left a rustic run by a Western-backed authorities, the place I had carried out a number of images assignments up to now 12 months. So I had missed the Aug. 15 fall of Kabul to the Islamic insurgents.
Taliban fighters with gear left behind by U.S. forces present safety for a Taliban politician on the Kabul airport in September.
Now I used to be again in a spot I had first began photographing in 2009.
From prime: Writing outdoors the previous U.S. embassy in Kabul in September reads “Oh my nation, congratulations to your freedom!” Distributors promote Taliban flags outdoors the Central Financial institution of Afghanistan. Photos of girls have been painted over outdoors many magnificence parlors.
I had met with the Taliban earlier than.
I had carried out embeds with the group in 2019 and 2020, after I photographed its commanders and fighters. Their angle towards overseas journalists, as soon as they had been answerable for Kabul, was usually pleasant and inquisitive. They had been comfortable to have publicity. However their takeover was troublesome for me to course of. For the dropping aspect, the lengthy years of demise, ache and wrestle now appeared pointless; the U.S. guarantees of democracy and civil rights, notably for ladies, rang hole, because the outdated order and its establishments had been rapidly swept away.
A burqa-clad lady sits close to a blast wall in an space previously referred to as Massoud Sq. in Kabul in September. Named after Ahmed Shah Massoud, who fought towards the Taliban as much as his assassination on Sept. 9, 2001, the sq. is awaiting a brand new title.
From prime: The market in Kabul’s outdated metropolis. Avenue sellers outdoors a hospital in central Kabul in September. Households shopping for and promoting silverware and family utensils in Kabul in March. Males arrested by the Taliban are held on the Pul-e-Charkhi jail in Kabul in October. The jail used to carry hundreds of Taliban captured by the earlier authorities.
Some facets of the city panorama remained the identical.
Folks had returned to their jobs, and the rush-hour site visitors was again to its ordinary insanity — however a lot was totally different. Across the metropolis, the symbols of the earlier authorities had been erased. The blast partitions of the previous American Embassy, as soon as coated with pro-government imagery, had been now painted over with the Taliban flag and a brand new slogan: “Oh my nation, congratulations to your freedom!” Across the former so-called Inexperienced Zone, which was closely patrolled by safety forces and the place images invariably raised scrutiny, no person minded my digital camera anymore.
From prime: Sheikh Mohammad Khalid, chief of the Ministry for the Promotion of Advantage and Prevention of Vice, speaks at Abdul Rahman Mosque throughout Friday prayers in Kabul in September. A Taliban member on the mosque in September. Gathering for Friday prayers. After the Taliban took over the capital, it changed the Ministry of Girls’s Affairs with the ministry of advantage and vice.
A brand new ambiance of stern religiosity permeated Kabul.
Gone had been Western-looking garments, the cleanshaven bureaucrats and hip children of their skinny denims and funky haircuts. Males now wore conventional clothes — the shalwar kameez — they usually had been rising beards. Girls had been seen much less typically in public since many had misplaced their jobs, particularly within the public sector. The Ministry of Girls’s Affairs was shut down, and its constructing now housed the Ministry for the Promotion of Advantage and Prevention of Vice — the spiritual police who implement the Taliban model of sharia legislation.
The rising poverty additionally stood out.
From prime: A girl in entrance of the previous U.S. embassy in Kabul in September. A 7-month-old named Sama was malnourished in March. The hospital in Kabul gave her household therapeutic meals packets for dwelling remedies. A health care provider sees a malnourished little one on the Indira Gandhi hospital in Kabul in March. College students at a women’ highschool in Kabul in September. In March, women had been banned from attending courses past sixth grade.
With all their possessions scattered on blankets by the roadside, households had been making an attempt to promote their home equipment for any money they may get. Others waited in lengthy traces outdoors banks to withdraw their financial savings. In the primary foreign money trade market, merchants counted bundles of Afghan financial institution notes that had been rapidly dropping worth.
A Taliban poster hangs outdoors a police station in Kabul in October. Many police stations have been taken over by the Taliban, with members now policing every space of town.
Taliban fighters had been in each nook of the capital.
They had been typically accessible to journalists. A Taliban commander lately launched from jail was keen to speak to me about his experiences. That mentioned, not all Taliban members had been welcoming to foreigners. One afternoon in October, I used to be wandering in what was often called Bush Bazaar, named after the U.S. president who launched the invasion. It’s now referred to as Mujahideen Bazaar. I approached a gaggle of fighters busy buying. A few of them had been curious, however their commander requested me in English to go away. They had been a part of the notorious Haqqani community, a splinter group of the Taliban identified for kidnappings and terrorist assaults towards U.S. forces. My interpreter and I did as we had been instructed.
From prime: Prospects queue in entrance of a Kabul financial institution from the early hours of the morning in September. The foreign money trade market in Kabul in October. The Mujahideen Bazaar — previously often called the Bush Bazaar, named after the U.S. president who launched the invasion.
The financial system stored crashing underneath the burden of overseas sanctions.
Within the months that adopted the autumn of Kabul, the Taliban struggled to remodel from an irregular militia to a functioning authorities. Hospitals in Kabul and across the nation swelled with malnourished youngsters, lots of whom had been despatched dwelling with packets of therapeutic meals due to the dearth of beds.
From prime: Scenes from a public Taliban flag-raising ceremony.
However there was little question the Taliban had received.
I stayed in Afghanistan via November, then returned twice in 2022. In March, I watched a crowd of Taliban militants climb a hill within the diplomatic enclave in Kabul. In an elaborate ceremony, a 130-foot-wide Taliban flag was raised the place the outdated Afghan republic flag used to fly. Because the flag ascended, jubilant militiamen flooded the stage, brandishing their weapons and taking footage with their telephones. It was a second I by no means thought I’d {photograph}.
Males close to the Qargha Lake in October. The realm outdoors of Kabul is a well-liked vacationer vacation spot for households on the weekends. The Taliban lately banned women and men from visiting amusement parks on the identical day and in some elements of the nation from eating out collectively.
