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Elise Blanchard

  • About
  • Tearsheets
  • Photos
    • When a woman is sick
    • Driven out of Pakistan
    • Economy in freefall
    • Lavish weddings return
    • Hotel Taliban
    • Power shift
    • One year later
    • Drought country
    • Opium country
    • Tourism goes on
    • Health system in disarray
    • Bans on women and girls
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“People collected soil, with their blood, their bones, and put them there” remembers Maiumana, whose face I could not show, but carried her grandson here, who lost his father in a 2019 US airstrike. 

Maiumana is referring to a sort of mo
Zaifa, 4, lost his father in a US airstrike in 2019 when on his way home in a car. Six other relatives were killed. Here, Zaifa sleeps in the home where he lives with his mother and grand-mother, under a table where they put plastic flowers his fathe
In Burhani Khel’s cemetery, flags marking civilian graves stand alongside those of Taliban fighters. Located in a remote part of Wardak's Sayed Abad district, the village has been the theater of some of the war’s most violent episodes. It
Women wait at a WFP distribution in remote Chak district, hoping to get some of the remaining food as they are not on the list of eligible families. Only those deemed most destitute will receive a package, which means 3200 out of 25,000 people. In a
No one knew how Ahmad Mossader, 9, arrived at the WFP distribution alone. After losing his father, a Taliban fighter, to the war, he is desperate for food but is not on the list of beneficiaries. He was not judged as needy enough. 
 
Only 3200 f
Kabul one year later. Not as clear-cut as it can seem from afar. One thing I do see everyday is more and more scenes betraying growing, devastating poverty like women waiting in front of bakeries, many of them widows or whose husbands have lost their
A Taliban’s wife, an ex-govt employee, a fashion brand manager. I spoke to Zahra, Roshana and Malalai for a piece on what the regime change has meant for Afghan women. The answer: very different things. One in common: crushing poverty. For @ell
Sometimes, Salma bursts in tears as she struggles with her homework. She works hard to catch up after spending years out of school because her family was displaced twice. 
Less than 2 years ago, when she moved to Kunduz, she could not read or write.
Somewhere in Balkh on our way back from Maimana with @aref_karimi777.
These scenes have become more and more common with the economical crisis driven by US and WB sanctions… 
1.19.22.

#Afghanistan #faryab #poverty #humanitariancrisis #journal
“I hate my life” Omedah said, referring to the extreme poverty she faces. Now 13, she sees no difference with the change in regime, besides the end of the fighting in her remote district of Almar. Taliban already controlled her village of
Guns and graves. Two images taken at different times but standing in the same spot in Saidabad. 
A boy laughs as he runs toward the cemetery to bring his M16–taken from the US army—to ‘Talib jan’, a local commander.
Further on
When two worlds collide / getting mango juice at the corner. 7.29.22. On assignment for @societyofficiel 

#kabul #afghanistan #citylife #taliban #juice #iceland #journalism #society #smoothie
Abibullah, 15, stand next to a segment of the main road in Saydabad was damaged by an IED blast. He chose this spot because drivers have to slow down and he can, armed with his megaphone, ask them to donate to his madrassa. 

Saydabad district, in Ma
"The Afghans were perceived as mere pawns on the chessboard of western diplomacy, to be engaged or sacrificed at will. It was a precedent that was to be followed many other times, by several different powers, over the years and decades to come;
"Whatever countries I conquer in the world, I would never forget your beautiful gardens. 
When I remember the summits of your beautiful mountains, I forget the greatness of the Delhi throne."

-Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of modern Afghanis
Women wait to see a doctor for a postnatal visit in Wardak province, which experienced heavy fighting during the war. 📸 at the regional hospital for @wsj @jess__donati ´s piece "Maternity Care, Once a Sign of Hope in Afghanistan, Is Falte
A midwife delivers a baby in Wardak province, which experienced heavy fighting during the war. 📸 s at the regional hospital and at Kabul's Malalai maternity hospital for @wsj @jess__donati ´s piece "Maternity Care, Once a Sign of Hope in
1 – Adel, 9, stands in what remains of his house, where six members of his family, including his small brother,  Zakeb, who was only  8, died in an earthquake in Paktika, Afghanistan.
 
3/4– Standing with Adel in the ruins
1 - Rahmatullah was working away when the earthquake hit his village, killing 13 members of his family, including his wives and daughters of 6 and 9 years old. 
The rooms of the first floor are now drowning under meters of rubble.
“See, that&rs
Tragedy and pain don’t discriminate. Taliban fighter Mohammad Nosr Shah lost his wife (a madrassa teacher), two small daughters, his father and a brother in the earthquake that killed at least 1000 persons in Paktika last week. After he heard t
Lashkar Gah, Helmand. 3.27.21.
#afghanistan #Helmand @everydayhelmand @everydayafg #river #landscape #landscapephotography 
@everydayasia @everydayeverywhere
Old man selling chickens. Boy selling birds and cages. People looking at both. In Lashkar Gah, Helmand, seen while driving, 3.28.21. #everyday #street #Afghanistan #birds #chicken #cages #lashkargah #helmand #south #shop #streetphotography #animals @
Some expert carpooling in Lashkar Gah on the way back from Nawa. 3.26.2021. Helmand. @everydayafg @everydayhelmand #lashkargah #helmand #Afghanistan #afghanistanyouneversee @afghanistan_you_never_see @everydayasia @everydayeverywhere #streetphotograp
Some happy March memories in Lashkar Gah, which is overall, sadly, far from a "happy" city. Fighting and frontlines all around. Home to thousands of families displaced by the war in Helmand province. And victim of yet another Taliban offens
Kite season in Kabul 🪁 🪁 🪁 3.4.21. #Kabul #afghanistan #everydayafg #everydaystreet #everydayeverywhere #kite #streetphotography #everydaylife #everyday #kids #spring @everydayafg @everydaykabul @everydayeverywhere @everydayasia
Morning sitting next to a traditional hand-crafted clay oven—used to make Afghan bread—in a street full of shops where these are made and sold. Kabul. 3.7.21. #bread #afghanistan #everyday #kabul #chilling #everydayafg @everydayafg @every
Afghan bakeries are by far what reminds me most of France. They are everywhere. But here, they are more than just shops. You can see people interact, prepare the bread, and they remain open until very late. One of my favorite feature of the country.
Grand toshak delivery. Kandahar. 10.1.20. @everydaykandahar #afghanistan #kandahar #afghanistan🇦🇫 #everydayafg #everydayeverywhere #everydayasia @everydayafg #bike #motorcycle #toshak #ontheroad #streetphotography @everydayasia
Late night in Kandahar's relatively safe and modern Aino Mina neighborhood. 10.1.20. #Kandahar #afghanistan #afghanistan🇦🇫 #picnic #everyday #everydayafg #store #streetphotography @everydaykandahar @everydayafg
The US "spy balloons" watching over Kandahar. Pics taken within minutes while driving back to the city. 
These military surveillance balloons watch over Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan. Above my house too. Many locals know, or at least
Kabul traffic. Where the same ride can take between 15 mins and 2 hrs. Thanks to blast walls blocking streets to protect some, unexpected road closures for "VIP" passage, and more. With daily sticky bomb explosions, being stuck in traffic,
Just chillin'. Kabul. 2.12.21.
 #Afghanistan #kabul #rugs @everydaykabul @everydayafg #kids #justchillin #weekend #shotoniphone #nofilter
Twice a day, farmers—or their sons—come here to sell their cows’ milk to a dairy company in southern Afghanistan, despite the volatile security situation. Set up in rural Arghandab district of Kandahar province, this collection poin
Kabul ✈️ arrival, never disappoints. 1.13.21. #Afghanistan #kabul #mountains #landscape #snow @everydaykabul #landscapephotography
At Kandahar’s first female gym, some women come in secret. “HATERS GONNA HATE” one can read on the sweatpants of a member. “Everyday I listen to criticism about this place … and then I come anyway” said a 26 yo te
"Les talibans prennent seulement leurs taxes, mais le gouvernement en plus des taxes prend aussi nos produits", déplore le propriétaire de la laiterie Milko, à Kandahar, qui continue à se développer malgr&
"The Taliban only take their taxes, but the government take taxes and also our products” said the owner of Milko, a dairy company in Kandahar, who has to tread a careful line with both camps to survive. Milko supplies some of the most dang
Every evening, young men head to the Arena club, a trendy cafe in Kandahar, to play snooker, watch football on a big screen, or smoke shisha "hubble-bubble" pipes -- unthinkable when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan.

But the city's youth fear
Their village was taken over by Taliban but is now back into government hands. In any case, they already know war. Panjwai district. #Kandahar. #Afghanistan. 9.28.20. @everydaykandahar @everydayafg @everydayasia #everydayeverywhere #portrait #portrai
Trying to start the year with a happy one. Men enjoying a picnic in Kandahar 's Aino Mena neighborhood. There aren’t many places safe enough to be out having fun  late at night, but Aino Mena is one—albeit much less so for women, alt
"I have nightmares every night," said Zia Gul, one of the survivor of the attack on the MSF maternity ward, sitting in her Kabul home and cradling her sleeping daughter in her lap. "Whenever I hear a loud sound or firecrackers, I think
Kabul beats even France in how bakeries are part of the city’s essence. It reminds me of my village, where you can find fresh bread at every corner. But what’s even better in Kabul is how late bakeries stay open, even when it gets really
Happy Kabul jan. On way back from the lake. Could mention how worrisome it is to see them without masks while covid is literally everywhere here—everywhere. But often hidden and untested. Still it’s also a reminder of the resilience of th
When reality becomes too horrific to comprehend. Amina was born 2 hrs before the start of the attack against the Kaboul maternity last week. Her mother was killed, and little Amina shot in the legs. Today, she was resting in another hospital, after r
Of the 14 policemen stationed the Kunduz outpost, 13 died when taliban attacked it in January. Nesar Ahman, 26, was shot in the back and cannot walk anymore. “Snipers would attack our checkpoint almost every night”, he said in the Kabul p
"My son Mujibul Rahman who is 22 years old was wounded in the Taliban attack” in Baghlan, explained the father of the young policeman, carpenter Abdul Rauf (picture 2). "It has been two weeks he had been admitted to the hospital here
"The Taliban are not going to agree to peace," young policeman Abdul Fatah said in a weak voice. "But if it comes, I will forgive them." Fatah was entirely paralyzed by a Taliban bullet in Paktika. 
At the police hospital in Kabul
Waiting for a food distribution at a school in Kabul. The anti-covid lockdown, although necessary, has made life even more difficult for those who rely on daily work to feed their families. Government, organizations and private individuals have been
House on the move and traditional face mask spotted in Kabul—currently under a strict yet not 100% respected lockdown. 37 new positive cases registered in the capital in the last 24hrs. Ce city is now one of the worst hit part of the country, w
No one said Kabul lockdown means you can’t have ice-cream on your motorcycle-truck 😎 please tell the world to bring summer, corona testing kits, and ventilators to Afghanistan. After 40 years of war, the country needs and deserves those very b
Kabul city shepherds happily guarding what I guess could qualify as an essential food store?—hence beating lockdown anti-corona measures, which are getting stricter and stricter, making the city quieter and quieter each day. Nothing like a Euro
While school is off because of corona, these two were having a blast playing shopkeepers in the family store, weighting fruits, handling money—with gloves of course—and chatting w customers under the caring eyes of the actual owner, very
Some pretty socially-distanced shopping, at least on the scale of Kabul markets, in Dahan-e Bagh today. City been much more quiet these days with lockdown, as #corona starts spreading in the capital—w 51 of the 349 cases recorded in AFG as of n
I met Rachida, 25, in Kunduz exactly a year ago today. She had just lost 13 members of her family including five of her own children and her husband in a US airstrike that hit her home in the middle of the night in Aqulabul village. “The neighb
That was day 1 of Kabul lockdown on Sat. Hard to tell someone who needs to work or won’t be able to feed their family the next day to stay home. But this lockdown is more than needed, as the number of registered positive cases keeps increasing&
Day 1 of lockdown in Kabul. Stores that supply food can stay open—I guess chickens are food, even alive? Slaughterhouses have to close—not sure if that’s one though? Lots of grey areas overall. Is the juice stand—many still op
If schools have been closed in Kabul for abt 10 days because of corona, it doesn’t mean kids haven’t continued working out in the streets—which is often out of family necessity, survival, not cruelty. Official lockdown of Kabul star
Pro-government local militiamen at an outpost 2-3 kms from the Pakistani border, in southern Nangrahar. The people from this area of Nazyan district have suffered from  Daesh, Taliban, Pakistani militant groups, and rockets from the other s
At the birds market in Kabul, over a year ago as I was discovering this wonderful city, inhabited by some of the most resilient people in the world. Praying all will be protected from the #coronavirus, although things look pretty grim right now. The
Some of many amazing afghan girls and women I’ve had the chance to speak to this past year. Happy #internationalwomensday.. 1 - A young mother—on the right—and her daughters, in a the small rural district of Kuz Nurgal in Kunar. 03.
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elise.s.blanchard@gmail.com