Taliban Afghanistan
as01 Palace Gates, Kabul
During the years of the Afghan war with the Soviet Union, and the civil war that followed, I stayed away from Afghanistan. By the spring of 2000, however, the Taliban government controlled ninety percent of the country, and the civil war seemed nearly over. I made inquiries, and within days the Taliban had invited me to return, and the United States Consulate in Peshawar offered me an air ticket to come and advise them on the preservation of films taken by the Mohajadeen with CIA supplied cameras and film. So, in the spring of 2000 I returned to Afghanistan for the first time since 1978. I stayed only a week in Afghanistan when I went alone, and the first eight photographs in this chapter were taken then. Afghanistan, Kabul, June 2000, ©Luke Powell, 2001 (LP 12.78-09)