|
12
Western forces continue their long withdrawal from Afghanistan,
scheduled to be complete within a year, save for a small number NATO
advisers and security teams. Recent reports and evaluations of the state
of affairs in Afghanistan indicate a bleak immediate future, despite
billions of dollars of foreign aid. Human rights groups report that
violence against women is intensifying, malnutrition is mysteriously on
the rise nationwide, economic growth has dropped sharply, and continued
foreign aid is threatened by possible instability post-withdrawal.
Gathered here are recent images from this war-weary country, part of the
ongoing series here on Afghanistan. [38 photos]
An Afghan worker inspects hundreds of shipping containers received by
U.S. and NATO troops at a storage yard in Kandahar, southern
Afghanistan, on October 28, 2013. These containers are often used to
transport tons of scrap bought by Afghans from the departing U.S.
military. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) 
Afghan men look at photographs of victims of war on display to mark
Human Rights day at the ruined Darulaman Palace in Kabul, on December
10, 2013. Tens of thousands of people have lost their lives during the
past four decades of war in Afghanistan and human rights violation was
prevalent during the Soviet invasion, civil war and Taliban wars. (Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images) #
Soldiers assigned to the Combined Joint Special Operations Task
Force-Afghanistan watch the Afghanistan countryside from the tail of an
aircraft after delivering bundles containing care packages, Christmas
stockings and mail to soldiers stationed at a remote base in eastern
Afghanistan, on December 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Capt. Thomas Cieslak, U.S. Army) #
Afghan policemen stand behind a pile of burning narcotics in the
outskirts of Kabul November 12, 2013. Over 20 tons of narcotics that
were seized in the past ten months around Kabul by Afghan security
forces were destroyed by the police, the United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime (UNODC) said. (Reuters/Mohammad Ismail) #
Afghan day laborer Zekrullah, 23, takes a break after preparing kilns
to fire the bricks at a brick kiln factory on the outskirts of Kabul, on
November 7, 2013. In the last two years, as US and NATO troops prepare
to leave Afghanistan, brick makers say business has dropped off by
almost half. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) #
A worker for the Afghan Hajj and Religious Affairs Ministry is
surrounded by flying pigeons as he collects dry wood from a rooftop near
the unseen Shah-Do-Shamshira Mosque in Kabul, on December 29, 2013.
Workers for the Religious Affairs Ministry sell bird feed to hundreds of
devotees who come to the shrine daily to feed pigeons. The feeding of
pigeons by Muslims has roots stretching back to medieval times, when
they were used as message carriers and respected as the cleverest and
most reverent of birds, as they never landed on the sacred Ka'aba inside
the al-Masjid al-Haram mosque in Mecca. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images) #
Sharon Brynin, the mother of Lance corporal James Brynin, pays tribute
as his coffin passes through Carterton, after the soldier was
repatriated at nearby RAF Brize Norton on October 22, 2013 in Brize
Norton, England. Brynin worked as an Intelligence Corps soldier attached
to 14th Signal Regiment, he was deployed to serve in Helmand,
Afghanistan in August 2013. While working for the Brigade Reconnaissance
Force of 7th Armoured Brigade he was killed in action in the early
hours of October 15, 2013 in the Nahr-e Saraj district. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images) #
Afghan Shi'ite Muslims flagellate themselves during a Muharram
procession in Kabul, on November 10, 2013. Ashura, which falls on the
10th day of the Islamic month of Muharram, commemorates the death of
Imam Hussein, grandson of Prophet Mohammad, who was killed in the 7th
century battle of Kerbala. (Reuters/Omar Sobhani) #
Relatives surround the dead body of a 10-year-old Afghan girl during
her funeral on the outskirts of Kabul, on October 27, 2013. An Afghan
official and witnesses say a roadside bomb, apparently targeting a group
of soldiers, killed a civilian in a market in the capital Kabul. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) #
An Afghan midwife trainer teaches midwifery students at the French NGO
Medical Refresher Courses for Afghans (MRCA) in Mahmud Raqi, capital of
Kapisa province, on December 17, 2013. As NATO forces pack up and shift
out of Afghanistan, aid groups are determined to avoid following them,
but they face rising militant attacks and uncertainty over funding. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images) #
Erin Vasselian, wife of fallen Marine Sgt. Daniel Vasselian, watches as
a Marine Honor Guard removes her husband's casket from a hearse at St.
Bridget Catholic Church in Abington, Massachusetts, on January 2, 2014.
The 27-year-old Vasselian was killed in combat in Afghanistan on
December 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia) #
An Afghan man sips tea during a cold winter morning at a livestock
market in the outskirts of Kabul, on December 28, 2013. Hundreds of
traders gather daily at the market to buy, sell and broker buffaloes,
sheep, mutton and other cattle. Although the trade at this market
remained strong, prices have increased significantly in the last 12
months. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images) #
Afghan police arrive to secure the area after a car bomb detonated
outside an ISAF civilian personnel compound in Kabul, on October 18,
2013. Police said the assault started at dusk when a car exploded near
the gate of a compound, housing contractors from various countries,
European diplomatic personnel and United Nations employees. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) #
Bodies of Taliban militants are piled near weapons at the site of an
attack in Shinwar District of Nangarhar province on January 4, 2014. Six
Taliban suicide attackers launched an assault on a joint Afghan-NATO
base in the east of Afghanistan, killing one NATO soldier during a
prolonged firefight, officials said. (Omar Gul/AFP/Getty Images) #
Air Force Tech Sgt. David Brenhuber surprises his wife Tammy and
daughter Alexis during the second quarter of a game between the New York
Giants and the Green Bay Packers at MetLife Stadium, on November 17,
2013. Brenhuber recently returned from Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan
and his family didn't know they would be reunited with him during the
game. (Brad Penner/USA TODAY via Reuters) #
Thania Sayne of Effingham, Illinois, leans on the headstone at the
grave of her husband, Army Sgt. Timothy D. Sayne, during the playing of
taps at a nearby burial service at Arlington National Cemetery, in
Arlington, Virginia, on October 16, 2013, a day before what would have
been their third wedding anniversary. Sayne, was 4 months pregnant with
their second son, Douglas, when her husband was killed on September 18,
2011, in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) #
Fazel Mohammad, 30, has his picture taken to register for the upcoming
Afghan elections in a mosque, used as a mobile voter registration place
in Kabul, on November 10, 2013. Fazel was injured in 2010 when an
explosive device exploded next to him while he was out shopping. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) #
No comments:
Post a Comment