The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
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February 2015 issue
by Sadeq Naseri
In addition to economic challenges and insurgent violence, analysts say that Afghanistan, as the World’s leading opium
producer, is facing a growing drug problem at home that is likely to worsen after international troops leave.
Each day, I pass over Sokhta Bridge in Western Kabul. A stench rises from underneath the bridge where addicts live
like stray dogs. The number of people addicted to drugs is increasing daily in all the major cities in Afghanistan. Many
have been taking heroin and other opiates for many years. These drugs are easy to come by.
Afghanistan is a country built on violence against women, crime and fears of war. It is also a country that is being
destroyed by the cultivation and export of opium via Pakistan and Iran. 95% of all heroin on the streets in countries all
over the World, comes from Afghanistan. But, few talk of the drugs that stay within the country and the devastating
effects they are having on its children - the youth of Afghanistan. After the war on Terror and the fall of the Taliban,
what future is there for the next generation?
A man peering at a corpse. It is thought that the dead man have remained un-noticed for up to three days.
Many addicts use the same syringe. There are no real statistics on those people who are infected with HIV.
Addicts are free to use, but they are not free to sell. But, police monitoring them cannot stop the buying and selling of
drugs.
Always suffering from hunger, addicts come together under Sokhta bridge located in the west part of Kabul.
Addicts live amongst garbage like stray dogs. They can often be seen huddling in front of a small fire in cold weather.
A boy child of a pair of addicts looks outside his tent.
During the night, a man smokes heroin inside a concrete drainage tube on the street.
Addicts who cannot afford to buy enough of the drug, die.
An addict observes the police who are surveilling them, looking for the selling and distribution of drugs.
A child waits for his father who has come to the bridge to buy drugs. The child cries as he stands near two dead men,
Sokhta Bridge.
A man smokes heroin on the street.
Many addicts do not have enough food or drugs and so they sit around looking ill.
Drug dealeers often hide their real job buy selling cigarettes as a cover.
Addicts live amongst garbage. They sleep, eat and die in this environment.
Many people pass over the bridge without paying any attention to the misery and death underneath.
Addicts wait in front of the bread shop, for free handouts.
