Afghanistan 1996
Review of the Stern Magazine Portfolio paperback (1998)

The recent (August 2021) re-takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban led me to take another look at photojournalist James Nachtwey's views of Afghanistan towards the end of the Afghan Civil War (1992-1996) when the Taliban first came to rule the country. James Nachtwey: Civil Wars was an early (Issue #6) publication of the German language Stern Magazine's Portfolio Bibiothek der Fotographie limited edition series which published quarterly from 1996 to 2014.

Civil Wars includes an introductory article "Der Augenzeuge" (The Eyewitness) by Hans-Hermann Klare with an initial portfolio of Nachtwey's work documenting conflicts and famines in Somalia (1992), Bosnia (1993), Sudan (1993), Rwanda (1994), Zaire (1994), and Chechnya (1995-1996) from pages 3 to 27. This is followed by the central portfolio with the epigram "Die Gotteskrieger haben uns in Afghanistan lebendig Begraben" - (Malalai, Ärztin in Kabul) [English translation: "The warriors of God buried us alive in Afghanistan" - Malalai, A doctor in Kabul] from pages 28 to 61. A further article, "Afghanistans endloser Krieg: Zwischen Kalaschnikow und Koran" [Afghanistan's Endless War: Between the Kalashnikov and the Koran] by Gabriel Grüner, and a further portfolio concludes the book on pages 63 to 91.

Nachtwey's work is always harrowing and disturbing but is extremely important for understanding the brutal impacts of inhumanity and conflict throughout the world. This is even more so at a time when we are even more doubtful about the propaganda and self-serving nature of corporate media and politicians and war profiteers.

See image at https://i.pinimg.com/564x/10/34/44/103444f07481b4f0cacf6208d015b487.jpg
An outtake photograph similar to the cover photograph of "Civil Wars" by James Nachtwey, Kabul, Afghanistan, 1996. Image sourced from Pinterest.

See image at https://i.pinimg.com/564x/d1/d4/fc/d1d4fcd11cf3ac5cab669fe89fcd482b.jpg
Ruins of Kabul, Afghanistan, 1996 by James Nachtwey. Image sourced from Pinterest

I had not been previously familiar with the photojournalism of James Nachtwey (1948-) until I saw the documentary film War Photographer (2001) by director Christian Frei at the 2001 Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto. Afterwards I was able to source several published collections of Nachtwey's work and James Nachtwey: Civil Wars (1998) was one of them. ( )