Afghanistan coexist

Dates

2007 - 2014
Author

Daniel Pilar

In the midst of the ruins of the past and the troops of western forces, the Afghans are in search of sense, freedom and identity.

The afghan civilisation has been, since the attacks of September 11th 2001, confronted to a war between NATO troops, the Taliban and a fast growing Afghan National Army and Police Force.

In line with the international protection force ISAF, the Bundeswehr has been participating in stabilizing the country, as well as in establishing and training an afghan national army.

In 2014 the mandate of the Bundestag for an operational mission ended.

German military presence however has been extended by a year, in an advisory mission.

The question about the future of Afghanistan and its’ people is what remains.

What is the meaning of “normal” life in Afghanistan?

Portrait of a man sitting on his bed in a residential house in the borough of Shur Basar in Kabul on september 26th 2007.

Money exchange on a street in the downtown of Kabul on january 30th 2010.

© Daniel Pilar - Image from the Afghanistan coexist photography project

In the central yard of the Police Headquarters (PHQ) in Chahar Darah, soldiers of the 2nd Task Force Kunduz are sitting in the sun and reading, on october 20th 2010.

The Afghan National Army (ANA) during a firing practice with a Haubitze D30 on a drill ground near the encampment of Kunduz, Afghanistan, on september 12th 2013.

Farid (22) is injecting himself heroin in a ruin in Kabul of january 24th 2010. Farid has been addicted to drugs since five year and consequently lost his job as a tailor. He has been financing himself with petty crime since then.

A boy with a pink hat is playing with a ball in an empty swimming pool on mount Bibi Mahru Hill in Kabul on january 29th 2010. The Hindu Kush mountain chain can be seen in the background.

View out of a Bundeswehr vehicle (Wolf), Kunduz, spetember 16th 2013.Soldiers of the Afghan National Army (ANA) of the Kandak in Hazrat e-Sultan, during a walking patrol near the encampment on may 25th 2012.

A soldier of the ABC_troop is spraying formic acid on the Bundeswehr vehicle "Bison" on september 17th 2013. The vehicle will then be transported by plane to Germany within the next 24 hours.

Streetview with pedestrians and cars in the downtown of Kabul on january 26th 2010. A large poster showing president Hamid Karzai and his kids can be seen in the background.

Patients are training to walk with prothesis in the Orthopedic Centre of the ICRC in Kabul on january 27th 2010.

A young man holding the string of a kite is standing on a rooftop in the borough of Shur Basar in Kabul on september 28th 2007. Beneath him, firewood is being sold on a market.

Three Afghanis are loading bricks on a horse cart on may 14th 2008 in Kabul, Afghnaistan. The oven, in which the bricks are being burnt, is shown in the background.

Recrutes of the afghan police during an alphabetising course in the training centre of the german police "German Police Project Team" (GPPT) in Kunduz on october 17th 2010. The teacher (right) is lending a pencil to one of his pupils.

View on the city of Kabul on september 23rd 2007.

Bundeswehr soldiers are greeting the residents of a village near the encampment of the Kandak in Hazrat e-Sultan during a walking patrol on may 29th 2012.

Female pupils of the girls' school Lycee Mariam in the borough of Chairchane in Kabul are playing soccer in the school yard on septembr 24th 2007.

Pre-election party of the presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and vice-candidate General Abdul Raschid Dostum in Mazar i Sharif, Afghanistan on march 31st 2014.

On the former firing range Wadi in Kunduz soldiers are looking for used ammunition in order to bust it, on spetember 9th 2013.

Soldiers of the Afghan National Army (ANA) of the Kandak in Hazrat e-Sultan, during a walking patrol near the encampment on may 25th 2012.

Refugees in a house in Kabul on march 25th 2014. The building collapsed after heavy rain.

Pre-election party of the presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and vice-candidate General Abdul Raschid Dostum in Mazar i Sharif, Afghanistan on march 31st 2014.

A prisoner (right) and a visitor are kissing each other goodbye in a cell of the central prison of Kabul on january 30th 2010.

The Buzkashi horses in the stable of General Dostum, Sheberghan, april 1st 2014.

Afghan men are doing workout in a gym in Kabul, Afghanistan, on may 20th 2008. Bodybuilding is very popular in Afghanistan, with about 200 gyms in the citiy of Kabul. Farid (22) is injecting himself heroin in a ruin in Kabul of january 24th 2010. Farid has been addicted to drugs since five year and consequently lost his job as a tailor. He has been financing himself with petty crime since then.

Children are learning in an Islamic school in the Mulla Mahmud mosque in the borough of Shur Basar in Kabul, on september 26th 2007.

A soldier of the 2nd Task Force Kunduz is sitting in the Police Headquarters (PHQ) in Chahar Darah, on october 20th 2010.

View inside the staffroom of the prison guards in the central prison of Kabul on january 30th 2010.

A Bundeswehr soldier of the ISAF's (International Security Assistance Force) strike force, is pointing with his finger in the opposite direction of an arrow, painted on a wall with blue colour, during a patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, on may 14th 2008.

Soldiers of the Afghan National Army (ANA) of the Kandak in Hazrat e-Sultan during a practice of firing tracer bullets with a mortar, near the encampment, on may 25th 2012.

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