Digging Out | Assignment Afghanistan

Digging Out

July 2010

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At work in the Karkara coalmine, one of Afghanistan’s only industrial mines.

Picknickers at Band-e-Amir, two hours from the city of Bamiyan.

Father and son at a rest stop on the Hajigak road between Wardak and Bamiyan.

Barat Ali, 65, lives in Hajigak village. He, like many villagers, welcomes mining operations opening in the area.

Aziz stops to pray by the side of the road.

Uzbek workers build a signal station on the new railway spur between Mazar-e-Sharif and Uzbekistan.

An Afghan policeman stands watch while Uzbek workers build a signal station on the new railroad line.

Rahmatullah, my translator, and my two guides resting at the miners’ camp.

Ali, 54, a Panjshir emerald miner from Dashtari-Wat.

Commander Jalaluddin holds a low-grade emerald outside a dormant mine.

Izhak, 22, Commander Jalaluddin's son, carrying his drill in the emerald mine.

Saif, 48, Commander Jalaluddin's brother, at the emerald mine.

The miners return to the mine after blasting a new hole with homemade explosives made from soap and ammonium nitrate. The miners’ techniques are primitive, and they damage many emeralds in the attempt to harvest them.

Commander Jalaluddin, resting for a cup of tea on the climb up to his emerald mine.

Abdel Waseeh, my guide to the Karkara coalmine.

A miner at the entrance of the Karkara coalmine shaft.

Workers labor by the light of headlamps in the Karkara coalmine.

Workers shovel coal in the Karkara mine.

A miner cleans up after his shift at the Karkara mine.

Miners have a few hours’ leisure each evening before returning the next day to the mine.

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