Reference :
V-P-AF-E-02259
Date :
25/11/2015
Caption :
Kabul. After losing his leg to a land mine, Paiwand-Ali, a former police officer, and his family are destitute.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
reserved users only
Description :
Paiwand-Ali, along with his wife, five daughters and two sons, are currently living in just one rented room in a very poor area in Kabul. He says he is not receiving a pension because he is not yet retired, but neither has he been given a job again. “There is no one to work in our family. My little girls are sometimes collecting things from the garbage to sell,” he said. The money Paiwand-Ali made from selling his land and house were used to pay a smuggler to take his 12-year-old son, Mohammad Dawood, to Europe. The family has had no contact with Mohammad Dawood since he’s been in Europe, but they were informed by their uncle that the young boy had arrived safely there.
The last year has seen continuing high levels of violence in Afghanistan, taking its toll on people’s lives in different ways as it has done now for more than 30 years. The impact ranges from attacks on hospitals and health clinics, which have caused heavy civilian casualties and deprived people of desperately needed medical care, to the general effects on the country’s fragile economy. This decades-long conflict has resulted in a soaring number of both displaced people within Afghanistan - now reported to number nearly a million - as well as those fleeing to seek a safer life elsewhere. Afghanistan remains among the top source countries for refugees, second only to Syria. Millions among the country's population have fled to Pakistan and Iran over a period of decades. Paiwand-Ali, 49, is from northern Afghanistan. He was a police officer and lost his leg to a land mine in 1990. “Life was so hard in our province. I was threatened many times with death by insurgents. There were also a lot of economic problems, and I couldn’t afford food and basic needs for my family. Finally I decided to sell my house and the small piece of land that I inherited from my family,” he explained.
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
5472x3648
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
