Category Archives: Images

It is a strange feeling, being in a place of suicide bombings.  Knowing that a bomb could go off at any time.  Knowing that there are people, maybe someone right next to you, who is prepared to die and committed to taking as many others with him as possible.

Every face is a threat, every person suspicious, every policeman the next victim, every step considered.  Do I walk into a marketplace, do I walk by the local Pizza Hut, do I stay at a hotel with foreigners and tight security or do I stay at a local guest house and hope no one notices?

I spent the afternoon in Peshawar today, photographing signs of the Talibanization of Pakistan.  The city has changed over the past years with extremist influences pouring over from Afghanistan.  Two cinemas have been destroyed, women harassed when outside of the house, and schools bombed.  There is one cinema left in Peshawar, yet everyone is too afraid to go.  I understand why.

It has been calm in Pakistan for the past couple of days, yet Richard Holbrooke visited, and two pro-Taliban clerics killed.  It is time for retribution, and with the Taliban, that comes in the form of a suicide bombing.  Everyone expects a big incident, yet no one knows where.

As I stood in front of the cinema, photographing the facade, men gathered.  They stopped and stared, they told me it was dangerous and for the first time in my career, I felt anxious.  I shot a few pictures, knowing I was directly in front of a target.  A motorcycle drove by, the men looked at me while speaking on his cell phone.  My mind raced and I asked myself if it was worth it.  If something happened, would these photographs be worth it?

Of course not.  Not only my own, but potentially that of the driver.

Of course not.

As we drove toward Islamabad, I began to relax until the text message came. “Security update, a bomb blast at 0 Point, 15 Rescue near PIMS Hospital.”  The bomber had struck after all, this time a police station in Islamabad.  Not the cinema in Peshawar, at least today.

Peshawar’s main movie theater. Deemed un-Islamic, cinemas have been routinely attacked by the Taliban. Peshawar has seen two theaters destroyed by suicide bombings. June 6, 2009

Men in Peshawar stare outside from bus window.  Regular terrorist attacks put citizens of Peshawar on alert and suspicious of foreigners. June 6, 2009

Women’s clothing store, Peshawar. Most upscale boutiques such as this women’s clothing store are closed these days in Peshawar for fear of being the next  targets for the Taliban extremists.  June 6, 2009

Pakistan, the Taliban, Axis of Evil, terrorist state and suicide bombings.  A jump out of my world of Africa, into the heart of Central Asia and another crisis.  This crisis is similar to those I have covered, a country indiscriminantly bombing its own people.  Chasing out subversive elements they say, with little regard for civilian casualties and the long term repercussions of their actions.

In January of 2009, the government of Pakistan began an offensive in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of the country which borders Afghanistan and is considered a hotbed for the Taliban.  The latest incursion is in the Swat Valley, a beautiful, mountainous area known as the Switzerland of Pakistan.  Swat has historically been a touristic area, with the highest literacy rates in all of Pakistan among men and women.

These educated people were given a couple of hours notice to evacuate their homes before the onslaught began.  Shelling from plane and mortar began while people fled their homes with only the clothes on their backs.  In the past three weeks, over 1.7 million people have been registered as IDPs and NGOs are struggling to meet their needs.  Not since Rwanda has the international community seen an exodus of these numbers.  Tents cannot be put up fast enough, people are waiting in food lines for several hours to find sometimes the food has run out, latrines are not sufficient, medical facilities are not available and these educated people sit in the middle of the desert suffering yet again, this time at the hand of their own government.

IDPs waiting in long food lines, Yar Hussein camp, Swabi, Pakistan. Some IDPs report waiting hours for the food to be gone. June 4, 2009

An elderly IDP waits for food rations from the World Food Program.  She is one of the 80% of IDPs not living in a camp.  June 4, 2009