wolf böwig | mīgozārad

wolf böwig | mīgozārad [it will pass]*

*written on a wall in kunduz

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... then madness was very near, as I believe it would be near to the man who could see things through the veils at once of two customs, two cultures, two environments

T.E.Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom

patrol near Nursay along the afghan-tadjik border

The first cry of a newborn baby in Chicago or J´burg, in Amsterdam or Rangoon, has the same pitch of key, each saying, “I am! I have come through! I belong! I am a member of the family”

Carl Sandberg, The Family of Man

on afghan soil after 22 years. Near Kham-I-Ab / afghan-turkmen border

Hazara woman at the outskirts of Mazar-e-Sharif

August 8th,1998: Taliban militia forces captured Mazar-e-Sharif in the southwest of Afghanistan. The fall of Mazar-e-Sharif was part of a successful offensive that gave the Taliban control of almost every major city and important significant territory in northern and central Afghanistan. In the days that followed the Taliban carried out systematic house-to-house searches for Hazara, Tajik, and Uzbek communities in the city. Hazaras, Persian speaking Shia ethnic group, were particulary targeted, in part of their religious identity. Thousands were detained first in the overcrowded city jail and later transported in large container trucks to unknown destinations. Human Rights Watch is concerned by persistent reports that woman and girls, particularly in certain Hazara neighborhoods of Mazar-e-Sharif, were raped and abducted during the Taliban takeover

“I maintain the principle that the duration of peace stands in direct proportion to the slaughter of the enemy. The harder you strike them, the longer they will hold on”

General Skobelev/Russia (commanded the massacre of the Turkmen fortifications at Göp-Teke in 1881. He allowed his troops to pillage and plunder for three days. 15,000 defenders and their families were slaughtered)

What defines an individual without connections? The definition comes from a daily reality continually occupied by the impossibility of travel and the successive fractures of love, by the utopia of reconstruction and cohabitation with horror, by the inexistence of the future and the violation of citizenship, by the death of dreams and the corrosion of objects, by the exhaustion of hope and the dismanteling of the group (family, clan or tribe), the fragmentation of the body and the insularity of language. The persistence of war through bombs, mines, traumas, abandonment, isolation, pain, hatred, indigence, hunger, ignorance and fear makes it seem that the marrow of the human condition has been mortally wounded and the mankind has begun to reproduce a vacuum in their own genetic memory. God remains out there somewhere - perhaps with even greater strength given the impotence of his people in the abyss - but the lines of communication have also been cut, along with all the calendars and rites of communion.

For centuries, diverse powers and spheres of interest have clashed in Central Asia. With the discovery of huge oil and natural gas deposits, the “Great Game” (a phrase that was first popularised in Rudyard Kipling´s novel “Kim”) for dominance in this key geopolitical zone became a struggle in which violence is commonplace and the outcome of which is unforeseeable. The stakes are rule and control, regional autonomy and central power. Also at stake is hegemony, advantage in the exploitation of mineral wealth and in the construction of transport systems to handle it.

Estimates vary, but there is no question that, after the Persian Gulf, the region around the Caspian Sea is one of the largest oil-bearing zones in the world. Ethnic and religious diversity is both a cause and a consequence of numerous conflicts here. The “large scale” struggle for raw materials is overlaid by many “small-scale” disputes, some of which are very tribal feuds. Domino: large conflicts are sparked by small ones, and small conflicts escalate into major ones. So there is nothing romantic about pipelines. But for the part of the world being considered for this reportage, they are the modern equivalent of the Silk Road. The only exports that could bring hard currency into the region quickly are petroleum and natural gas.

Irregular borders, as well as overlapping areas of settlement sprinkled with enclaves or exclaves, bear witness to wars, deportation and destruction. Within the zone extending from the Caucasus to the Hindukush is an accumulation of the old burdens left behind by the Russian, Ottoman and Persian empires, and, the more recent, still-unhealed wounds inflicted by the Soviet Union. Political boundaries, often drawn by military might, devoid of all reasons and straight across ethnic-cultural structures, are one of the leading causes of conflict. It is no easy matter to distinguish between rebellion and a legitimate striving for autonomy, between banditry and police action, peacekeeping and peace enforcing, genocide and aggression: judgements call for a high degree of knowledge.

In the present confrontation -the playing field- has widen, northwards and eastwards, includes now Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan, from that of the original Great Game, Afghanistan. Local and global players are searching for ways to bring those precious commodities to international markets while keeping Russia and China from new geopolitical positions. It would be a major error to see the Great Game and its prize exclusively in the classic terms of securing raw materials and markets, the categories in which the industrial powers thought until World War II. Even back then it was true only up to a certain point that getting a grip on a geographic area automatically gave one an advantage over others. Under the conditions of todays globals economy, it has become even less true. Oil, cotton and other commodities can be bought, if one´s own productivity in other areas is secured by technology and ideas.

But when a region is landlocked, as Central Asia is, when rivals prefer to flex their muscles rather than engage in open competition, when local rulers make their dispositions primarily on the basis of political preference or personal advantage - then the principle of geopolitics which states that, where one party is already present others cannot so easily go, becomes interesting once again.

Afghanistan never had the kind of nationalization movement that can shape a common identity. „Afghanistan has been, and remains, a tribal society“ says Azade-Ayse Rorlich, professor of history at the University of Southern California. „The undercurrent ... is an enormous fragmentation unmatched by anything in Central Asia.“ Still, the tribes have one thing in common: a passionate distaste for foreign/ers/armies of any kind.

I am working in Central Asia since 1994 following the “new silkroads” (eastern part of the pipeline system) to their final destination: The cities of Gwadar and Karachi in Pakistan. I have documented how people lost identity, became instruments, became part of this “Great Game”, for profit of the remaining global player USA and its worldwide allies.

And then you will build a house,
a tall house of stone ...
you send your children to school.
They are to learn and to become whole human beings.
It will be a good, proper school
for everything will be good and proper.
Work gives bread and the law freedom.
Is it not what it is about,
Don´t we all want that?
You go home
And will never be a slave again.
Neither you nor your children.
Slawomir Mrozek, „Emigrants“

Given these conditions in its immediate environment, it is uncertain how long the people of the region will be able to remain if the Great Game continues to be played. In Central Asia it has not been the first war fought over oil and the access to gas. It is unlikely to be the last.

strongholds of Northern Alliance troops in early 1996 along the Durand Line/Paktia province (afghan-pakistan border)

Achmed Shah Masood checking positions: this is the last stand of Northern Alliance troops in the south

a tank was hit by the Taliban. While government soldiers extinguish the fire
one is praying for the victims

father who burried already three daughters since 1979. This is the funeral of his son, the last child of the family

mother and son. The father disappeared during the takeover of Taliban Militia in August 96

Shulgareh, south of Mazar -e-Sharif

Madrassa in Mazar-e-Sharif

Mohamad Askar, former soldier of the Nothern Alliance in a (mental) hospital for war veterans

mine victim

family members are celebrating the return of a survivor from the fight along the Shotol frontlines

orphan in a street of Keleft, a deserted town along the Pjansh river

its hard to find material to burn. Men spend several days in the plains collecting wood. Daily there are new victims because of the mines the Russians deposited between 1979 and 1988 next to this important road which leads southeast

crossing the 3900m-Khawak-Pass, last access into Panjshir Valley, Achmed Shah Masoods stronghold after the Taliban took over control the A76 in late 1996. It´s a dangerous two-day-trek, as all mountains are blocked by mines Russians deposited there during their occupation (1979-88)

shepherd in the Panjshir Mountains

post near the Khawak-Pass (3900m). This is the last access into Panjshir Valley, Achmed Shah Masoods stronghold after the Taliban took over control the A76 in late 1996

Panjshir Valley.

POWs (prisoners of war) -pakistani origin-who fought with the Taliban

father and his sons working on the field

mudjahedin, who lost his hand during the combat of Charikar, at the Shotol frontlines. The Changaram Hospital in the Pansjhir Valley is out of pain killers. Only antimalaria-, high blood pressure tablets and Vitamin C is left

early morning at the Panjshir River

Achmed Shah Masood, commander of the Nothern Alliance, in his headquaters near Rokhat

mine victim

POWs (prisoners of war) -pakistani origin-who fought with the Taliban

shepherd on the road near Kabul. The fields along the street are blocked by mines

refugees on their way to Kabul

what´s left to defend? 60% of Kabuls houses are destroyed. Mudjahedin guarding a street south of the capital

father and son welding kilns out of used mortars

market in Kabul. ... sleeping with ghosts: “we won the war but lost the peace”

Kabuls children in search for firewood to survive another day of winter

in this refugee camp two sisters freezed to death the night before

during 25 years of war the watersystem of the city collapsed and there is hardly an intact tube in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Families collect water from pumps and wells. This work is mostly done by their children

Bemaru Bazaar, Kabul: woman who lost everything is begging for her children

woodmarket in the north of Kabul

the day before a rocket hits this market in Kabul. 68 people died, and approximately 400 were injured. According to Amnesty International since 1992 over 25.000 civilians were killed in the afghan capital

Wasir-Akbar-Khan Hospital/Kabul: the woman which occupied the empty bed commited suicide the night before by hanging herself in the nearby toilet as she could not cope with the dead of her whole family (the other women assume) ... she was the only survivor of a bombardment

disconcerted children. More than 500.000 died since 1979

two brothers in a hospital. ... the younger one lost his mind while the older one takes care of him now. There is no psychological help for those who could not cope with the effects of the conflict

mine victim

burned baby

in 1993 Wali was thirteen when he was burned all over. He is the only survivor of the entire family

Stages of barbarity: First, destroy those who create values. Next, destroy those who know what values are, and who know that these values were created by the people before them, who have been destroyed. True barbarism then begins when there is nobody left who is capable of making a judgement, nobody who knows that the acts he is committing are barbaric

Ryszard Kapuscinski, LAPIDARIUM

girls coming back from school

6 am, sunrise over Kabul; mercury indicates -20°Celsius

outskirts of Kabul

in search for weapons around Khandahar

civilians bribe to escape into Pakistan

north of Chaman in Paktika province / Durand Line (afghan-pakistan border)

patrol along the Durand Line
(afgh./pak. border)

afghans from Khandahar who fled the American bombardment into the mountains around Chaman (border post). There they have hidden several days before crossing the Durand Line (afghan-pakistan border), sneaking into Pakistan. Chaman, the only official bordercross in the south, has been closed already

afghan refugee in Peshawar

afghan refugee realizes by reading the newspaper (he is living in Pakistan since 1993) that Paktia, his province of origin -and where most of his relatives still live- is under heavy American bombardment

protest in Quetta/Baluchistan against the American bombardments

stranded in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan: an afghan from Kabul accounts atrocities he witnessed during the early nineties

“ ... They tell me that I´ll walk again, and my legs are going to be fine. But no one can tell me when I will stop having nightmares”
Jack P. Smith “Men all around me were screaming”
November 1965; Death in the 1A Drang Valley, Saturday Evening Post January 28, 1967

an injured afghan girl at the depature hall / Islamabad Airport waiting for her flight out to Germany for medical treatment. A german NGO (Hammer Forum) found her injured in an abandoned hospital near Kabul in November. The family gone, dead ... there are no files. Nobody knows. And she never talked since she was picked up

man begging in the center of Karachi. Many slum dwellers are forced by the police to leave their huts and flee into the city center where they end up living on the street

mentally-ill people finding shelter in one of the homes of Abdul Sattar Edhi.
This 71year-old-man established a welfare system, which started its work in 1951 in Mithadar, Karachi, where he was and still is living. The Edhi Trust gradually expanded its work in Karachi and now covers the whole country. Today the Trust has 30 dispensaries, which distribute medicine for free, to eight hospitals and several homes for orphans and elderly or handicapped persons

sewerage worker in Sadder, the oldest part of town

Abdul Sattar Edhi; this 71-year-old-man established a welfare system, which started its work in 1951 in Mithadar, Karachi, where he was and still is living

an elderly woman who has resorted to selling heroin on the street. 90% of the 12 million inhabitants of Karachi live below the poverty line. The sale of drugs is a means to survive.

an orphanage of the Abdul Sattar Edhi Foundation. Abdul Sattar Edhi, 71, established a welfare system, which started its work in 1951 in Mithadar, Karachi, where he was and still is living

each day homeless people come to the different offices of Abdul Sattar Edhi which distribute free lunch and dinner

MQM activists in the Karachi state prison:

“The fact that prisoners are in unconfirmed detention by the state and without any contact with the outer world, makes the use of torture easier for the authorities.” Amnesty International Newspaper

Lyari-district: The infrastructure is in no way able to cope with the population explosion. Often the system collapses and workers are stranded at home for days. Water and the lack of it is an essential problem. Frustrated by the lack of infrastructure, the inhabitants do the digging themselves, sinking wells at random. But more than 95% of these provisional wells have high concentrations of lead and chlorides, contaminated by leaks from industrial plants which render them unfit for consumption. Hepatitis, diarrhea and other intestinal problems are common citywide

three brothers bury their mother

port-area: water and the lack of it is an essential problem. Frustrated by the lack of infrastructure, the inhabitants do the digging themselves, sinking wells at random. But more than 95% of these provisional wells have high concentrations of lead and chlorides, contaminated by leaks from industrial plants which render them unfit for consumption. Hepatitis, diarrhea and other intestinal problems are common citywide

fishermen-community on one of the nearby islands. Water and the lack of it is an essential problem: there is no. Day by day members of the community have to take barrels of water from Karachi