[Picture from the same article - copyright nytimes.com, 26/10/2012 - Image Zalmai]
26.10.2012. On a recent
assignment in Greece, Zalmai Ahad discovered that more than 50,000 Afghan
refugees who had fled the most recent war were living illegally in Greece — in
the middle of the streets, in parks and under bridges and olive trees.
“What I saw was very
difficult for me to see,” he said. “I have been working so many years with
refugees, in refugee camps, in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. But it was
difficult for me to accept this in Greece — a European country.”
It was particularly
upsetting, he said, because he had also been a war refugee, fleeing Afghanistan
in 1980 at the age of 15 to avoid conscription by the Soviets into the Afghan
army. He went to Switzerland, where he was educated and still lives.
When the Taliban were
forced out of power a decade ago, he was able to return and has photographed
his homeland for the last decade. Known professionally as Zalmai, his Afghan
photographs were featured on Lens in 2009 and 2011.
