Banned

Afghanistan

I had been researching for story ideas about Afghanistan and was struck about how, perhaps unsurprisingly, ‘war’ orientated almost all published stories about the country were. There was nothing upbeat.

I found a press article explaining that during the 5 years or so (from 1996-2001) that the Taliban were in control of the country they had banned weather forecasting, alongside many other activities, most of which directly affected women.

I lived there for a month in 2004, mostly in Kabul as it was the most progressive part of the country, tracking down people to photograph doing an activity that had been previously ‘Banned’.

The project I produced was published in The Observer Life Magazine and was recognised through several different international competitions, including the National Portrait Gallery’s (NPG) Portraiture Prize, the Hodge Award and the Fifty Crows Foundation. Several of the images were exhibited in the NPG.

Weather Forecasting

Russian weather balloons lie rotting in an abandoned building at the National Weather Agency, next to the international airport in Kabul. The Taliban decreed that to predict the weather was to predict God’s will and it was therefore considered to be sorcery and un-Islamic.

Kite Fighting - Gudiparan Bazi

Beside the imposing war-damaged tomb of the former ruler of Afghanistan, King Nadir Shah, kite runners chase down a defeated kite as it falls slowly to the ground. Every Friday afternoon throughout Afghanistan children and adults of all ages engaged in kite flying and aerial kite combat (Gudiparan Bazi).
Soon after taking control of the country the Taliban began systematically destroying all kite shops. Claiming that kite-flying was a distraction from religious worship they burnt their stock and shop owners were beaten or imprisoned.

Kite Fighting - Gudiparan Bazi

11-year-old Delwar is a kite runner and one of the countless numbers of children and adults who played ‘Gudiparan Bazi’, on the hills overlooking Kabul.
The kite on his back fell to the ground after it’s string was cut during mid-air combat. As was his right, Delwar claimed ownership over it, to then repair it for a new battle. Kite wires were coated in powdered glass and when a wire was cut by an opponent’s wire rubbing against it, the kite runners chased down the defeated kite as it dropped to the ground.

Kite Fighting - Gudiparan Bazi

Almost 40 kites (many of them so small in the frame they cannot be seen at this resolution) fly high in the sky above Kabul.
Soon after taking control of the country the Taliban began systematically destroying all kite shops. Claiming that kite-flying was a distraction from religious worship they burnt their stock and shop owners were beaten or imprisoned.

Football

A football team made up of amputee landmine victims on the playing field next to Ghazi National Stadium. Although football was not completely banned its practise was heavily restricted, flesh-revealing shorts were banned, and only the cheering of "Allahu Akhbar" (God is Great) was allowed at matches.

This image was awarded 2nd prize in the prestigious National Portrait Gallery Photographic Portrait Prize 2004. The competition that year received more than 8500 entries.

Keeping Birds

Nirzamon, aged 55, had been keeping pigeons on the roof of his house in Kabul for more than 40 years. The Taliban not only claimed that it was an un-Islamic pastime and a distraction from religious worship, like kite-flying, but that any man on his roof could look into a neighbour’s garden and potentially see an unveiled woman, something they strictly forbade.
Nirzamon told me though that the Taliban commanders in the area where constantly changing and each one had their own opinion as to whether or not keeping birds was banned.

Women's Education

A young Hazara girl in uniform outside the Zainab Qubra Girl’s School, in the Dashti Barshi suburb of West Kabul. The razor wire marking the school’s boundary was laid by international ISAF troops, to protect the school from violent extremists, who viewed the education of women as un-Islamic.

Women's Education

Koba, 22, had been teaching for two years, at the Zainab Qubra Girl’s School, in the Dashti Barshi suburb of West Kabul. She was the only teacher who would let me photograph her - other teachers feared reprisals from their families.
When the Taliban were in power the headmistress, Zarghona Meyer, risked her life teaching girls at her home. Re-opened shortly after the fall of the regime this small, under-funded school, which was 25 years old, was educating 6700 girls aged between 7 and 21, in three daily shifts. There were 84 teachers, all female, and each one was paid approx. $40 a month.

Women's Employment

Police Officer Owari, 22, on the parade ground at the Kabul Police Academy. The notion of a woman holding such a position of power was still unacceptable to many Afghan men, so along with the other policewomen, both recruits and trained officers, Owari was confined to the academy during the day, to protect her from extremists.

Women's Employment

The employment of women was strictly forbidden by the Taliban, one of the many restrictions they placed on the rights of Afghan women.

Cinema

As the Taliban began taking control of Afghanistan, moving across the country from Pakistan in 1995, they announced that anyone involved with cinema would be arrested, beaten and put in jail. Fearing for his life, Rahmattala Ameni, 28, the projectionist at Kabul’s Park Cinema, fled to Iran, working for several years in a match factory. He returned to the cinema he had worked in since he was 10 years old soon after the Taliban regime fell. He also reopened several other cinemas in Kabul, replacing projectors destroyed by the Taliban. The two in the picture were bought from India for $22,000 each. The Russian Embassy also gave him two projectors.

Images of Women

The Taliban banned the filming or photographing of animate objects. Although exceptions were made for passport pictures the photographing of women was strictly forbidden.
On this Kabul market stall postcards and posters of Bollywood stars hang alongside those of western children, former Afghan President Karzai and Ahmed Shah Massoud, the Northern Alliance commander assassinated on September 9, 2001.

Women Driving

Fronia Guyan, 18, Sophia Ziaw, 13 and Suhila Ziaw, 57, are all learning to drive at the Bakhtar Driving School in Kabul. Their teacher, Frotan, has already taught over 350 Afghan women to drive, something that would have been inconceivable under the Taliban. One of the many restrictions they placed on the rights of Afghan women.

Women Driving

Fronia Guyan, 18, Sophia Ziaw, 13 and Suhila Ziaw, 57, take theory lessons from their teacher Frotan, at the Bakhtar Driving School in Kabul.

Women Driving

Frotan gives a helping hand to Fronia Guyan, 18, as she navigates the relentless traffic and challenges of rush hour in Kabul.

Weather Forecasting

Abdul Qadeer, President of Meteorology in Afghanistan.
The Taliban decreed that to predict the weather was to predict God’s will and it was therefore considered to be sorcery and un-Islamic.
Qadeer was brought before a council of Taliban elders and ordered to cease any activities involving weather prediction.
Following an ignored warning from Qadeer, an Ariana Afghan Airlines plane crashed in bad weather on March 19th 1998, killing all 45 people onboard. Subsequently the Taliban agreed to ask the agency’s ‘advice’ over future air travel in bad weather.

Weather Forecasting

Abandoned equipment gathering dust in a building at the National Weather Agency, next to the international airport in Kabul.
The Taliban decreed that to predict the weather was to predict God’s will and it was therefore considered to be sorcery and un-Islamic.

Men Shaving

A barbers shop in the Shar-e Naw district of Kabul. The Taliban decreed that men were strictly forbidden to shave their beards and were expected to grow them at least long enough to protrude from a fist clasping the hair at the chin.

Sport

A market trader roams through Kabul’s central bazaar. The Taliban considered sport to be a distraction from religious worship and as a result banned many forms of it for men and completely banned it for women.

Sport

Banned from the Olympics in 1996 and 2000 this was the entire Afghan team in 2004, comprising of just five athletes, including the first women (Friba and Robina) to ever represent Afghanistan.
Left-right: Friba Razayee, - 18 (Judo), Sultani Nasharmal - 19 (boxer), Masoud Azizi - 18 (100m), Robina Muqimyar - 17 (100m), Bashir Ahmad Rahmati - 20 (wrestler).

Free Press

Music

Farhad Darya, 42, a musical legend in Afghanistan, returned to the country from exile in Europe, to perform the first major music event there for over 15 years, on May 14th 2004 in the Ghazi National Stadium in Kabul.
Under the Taliban, when playing music was banned, weekly executions and amputations were carried out in the stadium where he performed.

Music

Afghanistan’s first major music event for over 15 years, took place in May 2004 in the Ghazi National Stadium in Kabul. Afghan legend Farhad Darya returned to his homeland, from self-imposed exile abroad, to perform in front of an audience of men, women and children. Under the Taliban, when playing music was banned, weekly executions and amputations were carried out in the stadium.