U.S. Marines conduct demolition training in Helmand province, Afghanistan, March 17, 2013. Public release photo by Sgt. Anthony L. Ortiz.
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SNOW PATROL — Afghan National Army commandos march through a winter wonderland to disrupt a Taliban weapons storage and IED manufacturing network in Jaghatu district, Wardak province. February 24, 2012. Public domain USN photo by Sebastian McCormack.
Two Afghan soldiers (one Kohistani and one Hazara) poses with their jezail rifles in Kabul, Afghanistan, circa 1978/80. Photo by John Burke:
In the winter of 1879, through to the summer of 1880, the British force called the Kabul Field Force occupied Kabul. Its commander General Roberts was tasked with securing Kabul and maintaining lines of communication via the Khyber Pass with the rest of the British forces, meanwhile negotiations to bring an end to the war and place a new Amir on the throne of Kabul were going on. Burke spent many months in Kabul and took a series of images of its residents. Kohistanis hailed from high and isolated mountain country of the North West Frontier, while Hazaras, believed to have Mongol ancestry, were from central Afghanistan. The Jezail was the long-barelled Afghan rifle, fired from a forked rest, at which the Afghans were extraordinarily adept marksmen.
Afghanistan de Georges Redard, photographies de Roland et Sabrina Michaud, Editions Silva, Zurich, 1974.
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From The Atlantic on the subject of an anti-Taliban force: “One of the militia’s youngest members is 15 year old Jan Gulab (right). He says, ‘It’s better for us to become fighters than to just to wait around and be killed by the Talibs.’” Photo by Vikram Singh.
Anti-Taliban militia members on patrol in Kunduz province, Afghanistan, 2013. Photo by Vikram Singh.
From the Atlantic:
Farzad Akbari, the 12-year-old son of anti-Taliban militia commander Farhad Akbari, in Afghanistan’s volatile Logar province, host to a large number of armed groups and Taliban crossing over from Pakistan. Farzad’s father is grooming him to take control of the militia should he be killed. “The danger (of the Taliban) is real and it’s important I understand how the world works,” says Farzad.
Photo by Vikram Singh.
Afghanistan 1956: Boy at a tribal munitions factory near the Kohat Pass in the border region with Pakistan. Photo by Marc Riboud/Magnum Photos.
The optic lens on a U.S. soldier’s weapon shows view of an old Russian observation point from the Marawara District Center in Kunar province, Afghanistan. February 7, 2013. Public domain photo by Sgt. Jon Heinrich.
“Dost Mahommed King of Caubul and his youngest son (1848).” Printed by Day & Son, illustration by James Rattray, lithography by Edmund Walker. Courtesy of the New York Public Library.
Mahsud tribesman, Afghanistan, 1919. Photograph by R.B. Holmes, from the collection of the National Army Museum, London:
“The Mahsuds were Pathan tribesmen who inhabited Waziristan. They were probably the most formidable fighters on the frontier. Highly mobile, able to live off the most meagre rations, and fine shots, they were perfectly adapted to their mountainous homeland. Fiercely independent, they had honed their fighting skills by years of raiding the settled areas to the east, along the Indus, and by attacking the trading caravans that travelled to and from Afghanistan. In 1919 their fighting strength was estimated at over 11,000 warriors. Only the most experienced and well-trained British and Indian units could match the Mahsud in frontier fighting.”
“Pathan” is an alternative spelling of Pashtun.
During a USO tour, actress Rose McGowan gets swept off her feet by U.S. Navy intelligence specialist Jennifer L. Smolinski. Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, March 29, 2010.
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Afghanistan is highlighted in a vintage cigarette card series celebrating CHILDREN OF ALL NATIONS.
A Waziri tribesman, 1919. Photograph by Randolph Bezzant Holmes (1888-1973). From the collection of the National Army Museum, London.
