Afghanistan in Winter 2001-2

these photos are from my work in Afghanistan in the winter of 2001-2. When I have time I'll caption them, they are photos of women and children at Save the Children's Clinics in Mazar-i-Sharif, the region of North Afghanistan and the Salang Pass and Tunnel leading through the Hindu Kush Mountains to Kabul at an altitude of 3670metres - a route which I drove twice collecting medical supplies (the first NGO vehicle to pass through the Salang Tunnel for travel rather than repair purposes when it was reopened after having been cleared of debris and mines by ACTED and HALO trust, 2 NGOs who were working to reopen the route which joins the Northern and Southern halves of Afghanistan.)

The refinery is Afghanistan's own fuel production facility - there are some small oil wells in North Afghanistan and at this home-made refinery the crude oil is distilled to make diesel and petrol.

The Transport Aircraft was an IL76 chartered by the British Department for International Development bringing in Emergency equipment to Mazar-i-Sharif airport in December 2001

The Bridge in one photo is the Friendship Bridge built by the Soviet Union to support the occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s - this bridge was very reluctantly reopened by the Uzbek Government in Jan 2002 - this photo was taken very hurriedly - the border guards immediately ordered me to put the camera away, but because they were unsure which international organisation I was with I was not arrested!

The horsemen are warming up for one of the first games of Bushkazi (the brutal and highly skillful game played on horseback with a calf's corpse for a ball) to be played in North Afghanistan after the Taliban were driven out.