. DECEMBER 2012 BACK ISSUE In 2000 I went to Afghanistan to photograph life under Taliban control with Brazilian journalist Pepé Escobar and Pakistani reporter Khawar Medhi. We crossed into Afghanistan on foot through the Khyber Pass and then by car on destroyed roads from Kabul, through Kandahar and to Herat near the Iranian border. We were arrested by the Taliban's Vice and Virtue Department for taking photographs at the Kabul football stadium, as photography of living creatures at that time was outlawed.  We were released although re-arrested some two days later for being alleged spies in Ghazni. Enveloped in the web of Taliban created paranoia we started to get a good sense of the personal pressures of living under such draconian conditions. The last bastion of Afghanistan not controlled by the Taliban was the north- east, under the sway of the Northern Alliance forces and their legendary commander, Ahmed Shar Massoud - 'The Lion of the Pajshir'.  In August 2001 we finally made it over the border into non-Taliban controlled Afghanistan from Tajikistan by Northern Alliance helicopter, not before a failed attempt to cross from Pakistan into Northern Alliance Afghanistan dressed as women. A month in the Northern Alliance Panjshir valley allowed me to work freely photographing many aspects of life I could not witness in the Taliban areas. On August 10th we finally made our interview with Commander Massoud.  A month later on September 9th he was assassinated by Al Qaeda operatives disguised as a camera team. I had just arrived back to NYC when I received the news.  Two days later I was at the foot of the World Trade Centre as it collapsed. by Jason Florio August 2001: Kuchi (nomads) from the Guardia tribe play "Buzkashi", a horse game. Jason Florio/Corbis Sygma August 2001: Boys playing soccer with a deflated ball in the town of Faizabad in the Northern Alliance-controlled region of Northeast Afghanistan. July 2001: Refugee boy offers a back ride to a baby in New Jalozai Camp, Pakistan. July 2001: Camp council in Nasir Bargh Camp, Pakistan. August 2000: Three Hazara girls in burqas in their home in Taliban controlled Kabul. The picture of the cat hung on the wall, is considered illegal under Taliban law. August 2000: "Kuchi" nomads, under a tent, on their way to search for water during a period of drought near Ghazni, an area under Taliban control. August 2001: Kuchi (nomads) men with Northern Alliance mujahideen fighter horse. August 2001: Taliban prisoner with a Koranic tattoo at a Northern Alliance prison. August 2001: Iraqi, Afghan and Yemeni Taliban prisoners washing at a Northern Alliance prison. August 2001: Girl on a destroyed Russian tank in the Northern Alliance controlled Panjsjir Valley, Northeast Afghanistan. August 2001: Four women in white burqas in Faizabad in the Northern Alliance controlled region of Northeast Afghanistan. August 2001: Man with pakool hat in Anoba Camp for IDPs. August 2000: Blue Mosque in Herat. Under Taliban law photography of living beings was outlawed. August 2001: Girl and baby in Anoba Camp for IDPs. Commander Ahmed Shah Massoud - known as the Lion of The Panjshir because of his long fight in resisting the Russian forces. Massoud was assassinated one month later by Taliban suicide bombers diguised as a camera crew. August 2001: Captured Pakistani Taliban Commander in his cell at a Northern Alliance prison. August 2001: Mujahid on the way to the front. August 2001: Arrival in to the Northern Alliance controlled region of Afghanistan from Tajikistan. Back to current issue