Kabul

After the cultural splendours and friendly atmosphere of Herat, Kabul came as a bit of a shock to me. The grotty city was covered by snowy mud and hung under a dirty mist. The people were rather anxious and the large military presence turned the city into a war zone. The soldiers looked weary and had a distressed look in their eyes. They had been away from home for too long and had seen things they hadn't expect to see.


I came across this playground on the outskirts of Kabul. I thought the playing children and tank symbolized 2 opposing realities that exist in modern day Afghanistan.


After the fall of the Taliban regime, music, normal clothes, posters and everything else that had been banned was taken out again and women went back to working in hospitals, hairdresser's and beauty saloons.
In front of this saloon were a handful of elderly women and their children begging on the side of the road, another reminder of the 2 very different faces of Afghanistan.