Afghanistan: A Look Back

Early Days | The Soviet Invasion
1979, 1980

I slipped into Afghanistan across the border with Pakistan in 1979. I went with a couple of guides who did not speak English. I certainly didn’t speak Dari or Pashto so our only form of communication was improvised sign language. I was woefully unprepared. Among my belongings were a plastic cup, a Swiss Army knife, two camera bodies, four lenses, a bag of film and a few bags of airline peanuts.

My naiveté was breathtaking, yet my Afghan guides protected me and treated me as their guest. It was my first experience with the legendary Afghan hospitality.

I went back when the Russians invaded. I traveled with many different mujahadeen and militia groups. We mainly traveled at night to avoid being spotted by the Soviet helicopters. Most of the time we walked, but a few times we were able to borrow horses.

I was always astonished at the continual pipeline of weapons and supplies going into Afghanistan from Pakistan around the clock. Rockets, mortar rounds, ammunition, were carried in by camels, donkeys, and fighters. It was only later that we found out the staggering amount of money supplied by the U.S. to make it happen.

When I went back over the border into Pakistan, I had blisters, saddle sores, and filthy clothing into which I had sewn rolls of film, which were among the first images of the conflict.

I visited a government garrison at Asmar District, Kunar Province, where three hundred soldiers defected to the Mujahadeen. New York Times, December 29, 1979

I took these pictures in Nangahar Province. My coverage over several trips for TIME, was the basis for winning the Robert Capa Gold Medal award.

Mujahadeen using goat skins to cross rivers

Over the years, I went back more than dozens of times on assignment for National Geographic, Time Magazine, ABC News, and other news outlets. I have spent time in Afghanistan during invasions, retreats, truces, and relative peace. Almost every time I returned, the power centers had shifted. In a great game of musical chairs, elders, warlords, criminals, and mullahs’ power grows and diminishes as predictably as the phases of the moon.

As much as outsiders have tried to “re-form” the country in their own image, Afghanistan has been able to absorb the blows of superpowers, and remain essentially the same.

The interesting thing is that the people trying to change it, change more than the country does even after Herculean efforts of governments, NGO’s, and coalitions.

The viciousness of the Soviet attacks forced millions to flee their homes for Pakistan and Iran, and contributed to what the Afghanistan scholar, Louis Dupree, called “Migratory Genocide.” By 1986, five million Afghans had left their country.

Forty-six percent of all casualties were caused by bombings from airplanes or helicopters.