Time to forget

Band-e Amir National Park. Bamyan, Afghanistan, July 2022

We went to a lake in Bamyan, some men swam stripped to their shorts, they were the young ones, the elders sat with their families drinking green tea from flasks, some women were fully covered, others dressed modestly but wore sunglasses and beach hats instead of burqas, children bought colourful balloons and ran around, their parents telling them to be careful.

Taliban soldiers walked up to the water with Kalashnikovs and cushions to sit in the sun, it was the end of July and it was hot. The anniversary of the takeover of the country was coming, the chaotic US pullout, the people falling from planes, those left behind, which is why we were there, to document how the country had changed.

But here near the water, surrounded by mountains, the sun high in the sky people were simply living. You heard their laughter, saw their smiles and could forget things for a while.

More photos — https://www.instagram.com/adnan_sarwar

Hello, I’m back in the UK briefly, heading back to Afghanistan next week, thank you for the messages asking for prints, I’m a one man operation and don’t have the time to at present, but I will work on it and post information on that soonest. Have a good day where you are. Adnan