Afghanistan: The cost of war, in pictures

The past three decades of war and disorder have had a devastating impact on the Afghan people. Millions have been killed, millions more have been forced to flee their homes and the country’s infrastructure and forests have all but been destroyed. The social fabric of the country is fractured and state institutions are fragile and weak.

Much has been written about the wars in Afghanistan – but the voices of ordinary Afghans are often absent from these accounts, and yet it is the Afghan people who are most affected by the violence.

To better understand how Afghans have experienced the conflict, we joined seven other non-governmental organizations operating in Afghanistan to research individual experiences of the past thirty years of conflict, perceptions of the current conflict and recommendations for alleviating the violence and addressing its root causes. Here is their story.

For more detail, read the report: The Cost of War: Afghan Experiences of Conflict, 1978 - 2009

Credit: Travis Beard/Argus

The Taliban emerged out of the chaos of the civil war, quickly capturing territory and promising security to a war-weary population. Instead, their repressive policies resulted in increased poverty, widespread human rights abuses, ethnic persecution and killings and continued displacement and refugee movement into Pakistan, Iran and other neighboring countries.
Credit: David Gill

“The mujahadeen destroyed our shop and our home and they threatened my family. They tortured my uncle and the mental impact killed him. We had to flee to Pakistan and my grandfather became very sad and he does not speak anymore.” – Female, Kunduz More than one in ten Afghans reported being imprisoned, one in five being tortured.
Credit: David Gill

“Children have suffered a lot, and they were mentally impacted because they had witnessed killings and torture. Sometimes they were hungry for days and had to walk long distances during displacement.” – Female, Bamiyan
“My cousin was abducted and raped during the mujahadeen time. It was very bad. She had to leave school. All of the girls in my village were kept home from school after that, because of fear of the mujahadeen.” – Female, Herat “The majority of those who have suffered are women. Some are widows and sometimes they were raped, sexually assaulted or physically attacked during the war.” – Female, Daikundi
Credit: David Gill

“Especially in our country, the poor people have suffered a lot. They did not have money to move to other countries. Some did not even have enough money to escape to the cities from their villages. Their children were not educated. Their land was destroyed.” – Male, Parwan Three in four people reported being forced to leave their homes at some point during the conflict. 17% are currently thinking about leaving Afghanistan.
Credit: David Gill

“The Taliban burnt our homes. They called themselves Muslims, but they burnt our homes that had Holy Quran and other sacred things inside. They burnt our fruit trees and tried to uproot orchards. In that time, people could hardly have cars so they used donkeys. But they even set fire to the donkeys so that we would have nothing.” – Male, Parwan Two in five have had property destroyed, a quarter land destroyed and one in three were robbed during the conflict.
Credit: Oxfam

After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, many Afghans were hopeful that the violence would end and that their lives would improve. But in 2006 the security situation sharply deteriorated and violence is now at its highest levels since 2001. Though life has improved for some Afghans, still nearly half of the population lives below the poverty line, more than a quarter of a million people remain displaced inside the country due to the conflict and nearly three million remain in Pakistan and Iran.
Credit: Ashley Jackson/Oxfam

“If people are employed, the fighting will end.” – Male, Kandahar Seven in ten individuals saw unemployment and poverty as a major cause of the conflict, while almost half pointed to the corruption and ineffectiveness of the Afghan government.
Credit: Travis Beard/Argus

Children play under the protection of a tent in a refugee camp.