KABUL, Afghanistan — Through the dark days of the 1990s civil war and the Taliban’s oppressive rule, the Afghan photographer Shah Marai never left his country. Altogether 25 people were killed, nine of them journalists. The Afghan war has dragged on for so long that it has redefined seasons and reshaped conventional battle norms. Spring, everywhere else associated with the blooming of flowers, is seen here as a time when deaths pile up. While wars usually have a front line, here the whole country has turned into one giant front line, the guarded capital of Kabul suffering the highest number of casualties year after year.

Source: New York Times April 30, 2018 16:36 UTC