The tomb of Sultan Mohammed Telai, great-great grandfather of Nadir Shir, an Afghan king. Its arches are decorated in Italianate stucco, but the tomb itself is badly damaged and graffitied. The strategic location of the hill is readily apparent from here, and was much fought over in the 1990s.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Afghanistan’s presidential palace is a bucolic refuge protected from the chaos of war by thick walls and layers of security—security so stringent that photographer Yuri Kozyrev and I were prevented from bringing in pens, and in my case, even lipstick. A decade’s worth of bombings, assassination attempts, terror attacks and riots have kept President Hamid Karzai a virtual prisoner. Last week, Yuri and I were invited to spend a day with Karzai in his palace. He keeps an exhausting schedule, zipping between meetings in different buildings with a ground-eating stride that forces his aids into an uneasy trot alongside, as they try to brief him on the latest news. When we arrived, Karzai had just learned of the assassination of one of the members of his High Peace Council, the group assigned to conduct peace negotiations with the Taliban. It was a terrible blow. Still, he kept to his schedule: presiding over his security council update, hosting a lunch for visiting tribal elders from the north, and meeting with a U.S. Congressional delegation led by Nancy Pelosi. He even squeezed in a moment to share his grief with other members of the Peace Council. The only time he paused for a break was when he went to the palace’s small mosque to pray.
The world outside the palace is equally frenetic. Kabul has been shaped by war; its monuments bombed, its green spaces littered with the detritus of battle and its citizens maimed by mines. Even though fear is rife that war will return, Kabulis are busy. The university is in full swing, and local factories now provide the Afghan Army with boots and uniforms. Cafes and shisha bars have sprung up, and, somewhat improbably, a 12-lane bowling alley has become the most popular pastime for the young middle class. It’s a Kabul that Karzai has never seen. The last time he walked through his capital, he tells us, was seven years ago. In two years Karzai will step down. Maybe then he will be able to take another walk.
Aryn Baker is the Middle East Bureau Chief for TIME.
Yuri Kozyrev is a contract photographer for TIME and was named the 2011 Photographer of the Year in the Pictures of the Year International competition.
The photos in this gallery were taken in Kabul the week of May 13, 2012.Karzai in his office. His desk has a portrait of former king Zahir Shah and one of his son Mirwais, but no picture of his daughter Malalai. Upon his blotter is a photo of Arsala Rahmani, the former Taliban Minister of Education and member of the High Peace Council who was assassinated that morning by a Taliban splinter group who declare that they are against the peace process. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEKarzai is accompanied by a phalanx of security guards everywhere he goes, even inside the palace, where security is so tight that visitors can’t even bring in pens or lipstick.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEKarzai at noon prayers in the Palace mosque. He makes an effort to go to noon and evening prayers, but sometimes work gets in the way.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEThe last formal meeting of the day: Karzai meets a congressional delegation led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEThe last formal meeting of the day: Karzai meets a congressional delegation led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEKarzai hosts a delegation of Turkmen constituents, who present him with a handwoven rug with the image of a world atlas. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEKarzai hosts a delegation of Turkmen constituents. They came to Kabul to ask for assistance after floods devastated their traditional areas in the north of the country. They are also complaining that he has no Turkmen members in his Cabinet.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEHamid Karzai at the Presidential Palace in Kabul.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEAn Officer imitates the gesture of greetings made by President Karzai in a portrait that hang at the barracks at the Kabul Military Training Centre in Kabul.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEAfghan National Army recruits stay in barracks at the Kabul Military Training Center.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMECadets, supervised by Afghan and Canadian military instructors, take part in combat exercises. "I want to go home" is written in English on an abandoned Soviet APC on the territory of the Kabul Military Training Centre.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEAfghan National Army officer cadets at the Kabul Military Training Center.
Instruction at KMTC includes infantry tactics
Afghan national Army officer cadets take part in combat exercise
Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEPrayer time at the Kabul Military Training Center.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEPatients exercise with their new prostheses at the orthophedic center of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kabul. Patients learn to walk again like they've never walked before in their entire lives.
Namez Sanayee, 10, exercises with his new prosthetic legs at the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, ortophedic center in Kabul. Nazem lost his legs when he and two of his brothers got at the cross fighting between Taliban and Afghan soldiers at their village Charkh Logan province 4 month ago. One of his brothers was killed and another was wounded.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEPatients exercise with their new prostheses at the orthophedic center of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kabul.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEThe tomb of Sultan Mohammed Telai, great-great grandfather of Nadir Shir, an Afghan king. Its arches are decorated in Italianate stucco, but the tomb itself is badly damaged and graffitied. The strategic location of the hill is readily apparent from here, and was much fought over in the 1990s.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEEight-month-old Meyesh with her father Khair Mohammad at the Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital in Kabul. Meyesh has Thalassemia and needs treatment outside of AfghanistanYuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEChildren play at Teppe Maranjan, where the mausoleum of Nadir Shah is located.
Mausoleum of Nadir Shah
The mausoleum of Nadir Shah is located on top of a low ridge called Tapa Maranjan. Mohammed Nadir Shah was king of Afghanistan from 1929 until his assassination in 1933.
at Teppe Maranjan.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEStudents study religious law on the grounds of Kabul University.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEA lecture at the pharmaceutical department of the Kabul university.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEThe ruins of Darulaman Palace, in the south of the city.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEAt a shisha club in Kabul.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIMEIn Kabul, young Afghans bowl at The Strikers, Afghanistan’s only bowling alley.
Strikers, Afghanistan’s only bowling alley, opened last fall in Kabul. People took to it quickly, and it is mobbed on weekends.
Though Strikers’ opening last fall was the country’s introduction to bowling, most of the bowlers now are Afghans, not expatriates. Strikers was started by an Afghan, not a foreigner. It was built with Afghan money, not funneled-off international aid. And the founder and owner is a 28-year-old woman, Meena Rahmani, who has managed to keep her mostly male staff of 25 working well despite Afghan society’s deep bias against women.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
