Where are they now?

In 1978 I was in Afghanistan for a number of weeks, en route to India. October. Just prior to the communist take over of that country. They've been at war ever since. It was hard not to love the country, hard and poor as it was even then, and the people, whose reputation for generosity has now justifiably reached the rest of the world. During the war against the communist regime, and even more particularly since the bombing by the west, I have thought often of these people.

Son of nomads This drawing is taken from the photograph below.

The family They were repairing their tent on the outskirts of Herat when I walked by. I was with a young Afghan boy (pictured below) and he translated their story for me. That year they'd lost nearly everything in a flood. We were invited into their tent for tea and a bite to eat. We looked at each other across worlds.

The guide I don't remember his name, but man, he was a decent kid. This was in Herat and I was his tourist for 3 or 4 days. His English was good enough to tell me some of it's history and his humour was high.

Baker A very social scene in these bread shops where the bread was pounded flat and baked in the stone ovens they sat on. Good bread, but you could break your teeth on the stones picked out from the walls of the oven. This man has strong mongolian features.

Kids Kids everywhere, working, playing, mugging the camera for coins, demanding cigarettes.

And more kids Kids, but not quite kids, either. The older boy wears a look too old for his years.

Truck driver He must have been doing well, his truck is so lavish. He was very proud to have his truck noticed and photographed.

Dog fight Dog fights were held in a small town outside of Rabat. Here are some kids with one of the dogs.