Andrew Quilty

In 2001, as part of the war on terror, the United States went into Afghanistan at the head of an international coalition bombastically named Operation Enduring Freedom. For the next decade, unprecedented attention (from aid agencies, private security contractors and media) was given to a country that, despite having been in conflict for more than two decades, had struggled to attract international interest.

Winding forward, as the clock ticked down to New Year’s Eve 2014, President Barack Obama announced the end to the NATO combat mission in Afghanistan, and America’s longest war. However, while the United States’ war in Afghanistan is ostensibly over and international interest on the wane, the fight for Afghanistan becomes more violent every year. In 2015 alone, Afghan security forces had more fatalities than foreign forces during the entire war. Civilian casualties are also on the rise.

Amidst the tumult of this latest chapter in Afghanistan’s constantly evolving war, the war-weary population also has to contend with political and economic paralysis. The national unity government, brokered in 2014 by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, is mired in internecine conflict. The withdrawal of foreign troops and donor money has sent unemployment rates soaring and has stifled economic activity.

Millions of Afghan refugees returned home following the ousting of the Taliban regime in 2001, but as many as one million are now internally displaced, twice as many as three years ago. Hundreds of thousands have made desperate, often futile or deadly journeys in search of better lives in Europe. Many among the new educated class in cities undertake this journey because of a growing sense of hopelessness and a lack of professional opportunities. Others flee rural areas where the Taliban continue to gain territory. The militant movement now controls or is staking a claim to as much as half the country.