Kabul Now and Then

September 5, 2009
Kabul

Today I went with three University colleagues to Darulaman Palace. Built in the 1920s by King Amanullah Kahn after he returned from the UK intent on modernizing Afghanistan, the palace was built in the European neoclassical style and looks down Darulaman Road toward Kabul's center city. When King Amanullah Kahn was exiled by religious conservatives the building, originally intended as the seat of Parliament sat vacant. It was gutted by fire in 1969, renovated and then attacked and burned by Soviet forces in 1978. Afghan war lords completed destruction of this massive palace in the 1990's as they fought one another for control of Kabul. Today the building is an empty shell, with only a small corner used by NATO forces as an outlook.

Every day in Kabul I wonder what this city looked like before the Soviets, Mujahideen, and Taliban forces destroyed it's buildings and beauty. Because it is hard to answer that question or find images of Kabul pre-destruction, I decided to go back to my photos from 2006 to at least measure any progress in the past three years to rebuild this city. The overwhelming poverty is a constant reminder of our failure to improve the human condition, which pre-dates any modern destruction but I was able to document some progress - there is less scaffolding and more shops are open along the major routes. In addition, slowly some roads are being repaired, and pedestrian bridges (at least two) are being built across busy roads.