The Longest War: Photos from Afghanistan

最长的战争：阿富汗组图

Interviews by Kim Barker

All photographs from VII

Korengal Valley, 2009

2009年，Korengal山谷
Adam Ferguson first visited Afghanistan in early 2008 and has been back six times.
Adam Ferguson 于2008年早期首次到访阿富汗，并且前后去了六次。
"It was my first day in the Korengal. I walked 600 meters uphill on an ammunition drop to the observation post that overlooks the military outpost there. This soldier was standing on the ledge over the valley and had a moment. He's in front of a beautiful landscape of mountains, and his head is in his hands. The guys really are under the gun. They live inside the wire, in the middle of nowhere, separated from the civilian population. They go out on patrol, and they get shot at or attacked almost every day. They never really penetrate that landscape, that culture."

“这是我在Korengal山谷的{dy}天。我沿着一座弹药库向上爬行了600米，到达了这座能够俯视xx前哨的观察点。这位士兵站在山谷的边上矗立不动。他正好位于一处美丽的山景前面，头靠在手上。他的确正处于枪口之下。他们在炮火中求生，无处可藏，与平民相隔离。他们外出巡逻，几乎每天都会遭遇枪击或者受到进攻。他们永远都无心欣赏美景与文化。”

Kabul, 1996

1996年，喀布尔 
James Nachtwey has been covering conflicts around the globe since 1981 and has worked in Afghanistan about ten times since 1988.
James Nachtwey自从1981年以来经历了世界各地的冲突，自从1988年以来在阿富汗大约工作了十次。
"Afghanistan is fascinating. Except for the weapons and Japanese trucks, it could be 600 years ago. This had been the central business district of Kabul, destroyed following the 1989 withdrawal of the Soviets, when various factions were attacking each other. When I took the photograph, the Taliban were assaulting the city. People lived in these ruins. Some were being blown up by land mines when they scavenged for building materials and firewood. I think what's significant about this image, especially in light of where we are now, is that our attention to Afghanistan had lapsed. We forgot about it. In this photo, the woman looks almost like a ghost floating through the ruined landscape. Now this part of the city has been rebuilt. It doesn't look like such a moonscape."

“阿富汗太迷人了。除了武器与日本卡车，它几乎就是600年前的样子。这应该是喀布尔的中央商业区，在1989年苏军从该国撤军时遭到了毁坏，当时各个派别正在混战。当我拍这张照片时，塔利班正在进攻这座城市。人们就住在这些废墟之中。一些人在寻找建筑垃圾和木炭时被地雷炸开了花。我认为这张照片最重要之处，特别从我们现在来看，是我们对于阿富汗的xx消失了。我们忘记了它的存在。在这张照片中，这位妇女如同一外幽灵一样飘过这片废墟。现在这座城市的这一部分已经得已重建。它不再象一片月球的表面了。”

Kabul, 2002

2002年，喀布尔 
Ashley Gilbertson has worked extensively in Kosovo and Iraq. He made one trip to Afghanistan, in 2002.
Ashley Gilbertson在科索沃和伊拉克的许多地方工作过。2002年他去过一次阿富汗。
"A kid watched a soccer game from behind the wreckage of a Soviet helicopter. Over there, kids play in the rubble, near tanks, in extremely dangerous areas. One kid, one moment, can affect you profoundly. He's, what, ten years old? He could be a kid from anywhere. But he's trapped in this horrible situation, and this is his everyday life. Going back and finding him would be impossible. I didn't get his name. But I think about him. I wonder about thousands of kids. Who in my archives is still alive?"

“一个孩子在一架苏军直升机残骸的后面观察一场足球赛。在那里，孩子们在坦克旁边极其危险的碎石地上踢足球。一个孩子在那一刻会深深地感染你。他大概10岁了吧？他可能是来自任何地方的一个孩子。回去找寻他将是不可能的。我不知道他的姓名。但我很想他。我想成千上万的孩子。在我的档案中还有谁仍然活着？”

Kabul, 2001

2001年，喀布尔 
John Stanmeyer spent much of the last decade documenting the political and social changes in Indonesia. He traveled to Afghanistan in 2001, returning five or six times.
John Stanmeyer在过去10年间将大部分时间用在了记录印度尼西亚的政治与经济的变革上。他2001年到了阿富汗，并且回去了五、六次。
"This picture happened the day after the Taliban fled Kabul. I had followed the Northern Alliance progression down from Kunduz in the north. It was as if we were driving through the wrinkles of God's hands. I felt so insignificant passing through those mountains. We arrived in Kabul and saw this breath of fresh air. It was suddenly a bunch of color walking around, such a contrast to the beige dirt everywhere in Afghanistan and the men all wearing those same beige outfits. The only color was that blue of the burka. Under the Taliban regime, there were no kites, no balloons, no music, no TVs. This picture signifies hope, life, celebration of humanness. Having colors, balloons, kites, and music was a monumental shift. Where did this man get the helium?"

“这张照片拍摄于塔利班逃出喀布尔的当天。我跟着北方联盟的xx从北方的Kunduz开展进攻。那就好象是我们沿着上帝长满皱纹的手臂在驾车行驶。我感到穿过这些山脉太没有意义了。我们到达喀布尔，看到了这种新鲜的气氛。突然就出现了一缕彩色，与阿富汗遍地褐色的垃圾以及人们都装备着褐色的武器形成了鲜明的对比。{wy}不同的就是穆斯林长袍的蓝色。在塔利班政权之下，没有风筝，没有气球，没有音乐，没有电视。这张照片显示了希望，生命以及对于人道的庆祝。拥有色彩、气球、风筝以及音乐是一个标志性的转变。这个人是从哪里得到氦气的呢？”

Kabul, 2001

2001年，喀布尔
Gary Knight began his career covering military conflicts in Southeast Asia. He has visited Afghanistan many times since 1988.
Gary Knight在东南亚开始了他的拍摄军事冲突生涯。自从1988年之后，他造访阿富汗多次。
"By 2001, I had worked in Afghanistan for more than a dozen years. This picture was taken when hundreds of Afghan women came out on the street after the Taliban fled. Women had simply vanished under the Taliban. Now hundreds removed their burkas and revealed their faces in public at the same time. I loved it. I had my picture taken with them and sent it to my kids. It was just after 9/11, so it was a great thing to see something positive, affirming, so soon after that. It's quite sad now, when I look back. I wonder what's happened to these women, whether their dreams of that day were fulfilled."

“至2001年末，我在阿富汗工作超过12个年头了。这张照片拍摄于塔利班逃走之后，数百名妇女走了出来。同时数百人揭去了她们的面纱并在公开场合露出了真容。我非常喜欢这幅图。我将自己拍摄的照片带回国内送给自己的孩子们。那刚刚在9/11之后不久，因此看到积极的事情非常令人鼓舞，特别是在此之后。当我回顾往事时，现在看来太悲哀了。我不知道这些妇女后来发生了什么，那天她们的梦想是否已经实现。”

Kabul, 2009

2009年，喀布尔
Benjamin Lowy started his career covering the Iraq war in 2003. He visited Afghanistan in 2007 and has been back three times.
Benjamin Lowy在2003年开始他的拍摄伊拉克战争生涯。2007年他去了阿富汗，共去过三次。
"This picture was taken in the Russian Cultural Center, which has been completely bombed-out. It's ground zero for opium and heroin addicts in this city. On this morning, a couple hundred people were sleeping in their own filth in the basement. It felt like you were swimming through hell. It's the worst spot of misery and pain I've ever seen. Hypodermic needles stuck in my shoes as I walked over to take the photo. The light was streaming through one mortar hole. This guy had just injected heroin. He lifted his head into the light, at a moment of extreme ecstasy. Afghanistan is the No. 1 exporter of opium and heroin, and this picture is a microcosm of everything that can go wrong in a country. It's the most awful story I've ever covered."

“这张照片在俄罗斯文化中心拍摄，该座建筑物已经xx被炸毁了。现在它是这座城市中的xx区。早晨，200人睡在地下室中的破烂物上。感觉就象你在地狱中游泳。这是我见过的最悲惨与痛苦的糟糕画面。当我步行去拍摄时，注射器的针头扎透了我的鞋子。灯光从一枚迫击炮弹炸开的窟窿射了过来，这个人刚刚注射完了xx。在灯光中他抬起了头，在那一刻极端地沉醉其中。阿富汗是头号xx与xxx的出口国。这张图是该国混乱的一个缩影。这是我所拍摄过的最吓人的照片。”

Kohe Safi Mountains, 2002

2002年,Kohe Safi山脉
Seamus Murphy's new book, A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan, documents the rise of the Taliban and the impact of the U.S. invasion. He has traveled to Afghanistan 13 times since 1994.
这是Seamus Murphy的新书《黑色的一幕：阿富汗，塔利班崛起与美国入侵影响档案》。1994年之后他先后去过阿富汗13次。
"One year after the fall of the Taliban, I did an embed with the 82nd Airborne. My God, in 2002, there was so much hope. It was before corruption, before Iraq. It was when anything could happen. People were rebuilding their lives. The Taliban coming back? I don't think anyone had even thought about it. It was a more innocent time. These soldiers were searching for something out the back door of a helicopter; they could have been looking for anything, Osama, the Taliban, weapons. They're hopeful they're going to find it, in the beauty, bleakness, and vastness of that landscape. The mood was upbeat; there certainly weren't any fears of improvised explosive devices. Now it's pretty depressing. The reason I keep going back is that the Afghans are amazing. They're so resilient and have to be to live through what they've lived through."

“在塔利班垮台一年之后，我与第82空降师一同前往。2002年，我的天，希望太多了。这是在腐败发生的前夕，在伊拉克战争之前。俨然什么事情都可能发生。人们在重建其生活。塔利班会卷土重来吗？我认为当时没有人会这么想。这是一个更加天真的时代。这些士兵通过直升机的后门在搜寻着什么东西。他们本来可以找到奥萨马，塔利班以及武器。他们希望在美丽的、荒芜的、巨大的山区发现它。情绪非常乐观；当然不会有对于埋设爆炸物的恐惧。境内外在太令人沮丧了。我回去的原因是阿富汗人民太令人吃惊了。他们太有弹性了，不得不回到过去曾经经历的一切。”

Alasai Valley, 2009

2009年，Alasai山谷
Eric Bouvet has been photographing Afghanistan since 1986, documenting life under the Taliban, the mujahideen, and several foreign armies. He has visited the country about a dozen times.
Eric Bouvet自从1986年以来始终在阿富汗拍照，记录下了塔利班统治、游击队以及一些外国敌人的生活。
"I've been doing this job for 28 years, with armies all over the world. I'd never seen this before. It's called a sandbox exercise, where the military trains soldiers by moving around plastic figures. I thought it was funny. Here, a French soldier was teaching the Afghans how to retreat from the enemy. The Afghans are courageous. They can run and shoot. But they don't know how to organize, take a position, defend it, or come back alive.
“我干这一行已经28年了，随着xx走遍了世界。以前我从来没有看到过这个。它称为沙盘推演，军方通过移动塑料小人来训练士兵。我认为这非常有趣。在这张照片中，一个法国士兵在教阿富汗士兵如何从敌人眼皮底下逃生。阿富汗人非常勇敢。他们可以边跑边射击。但他们不知道如何组织起来、如何占领阵地、如何守卫阵地或者如何生存下来。
They are not good at retreating. When they hold their rifles, they're pointing anywhere, near their heads. They walk like they're on a promenade. I played with these plastic soldiers when I was a kid. To see them here all of a sudden, at war, was incredible. The enemies are everywhere nearby. It's real life, not a game."

他们不擅长撤退。当他们手握步枪时，他们将枪指向任何方向，距离头部太近。他们走路如同散步一样。当我小时候就玩这些塑料士兵。在战时突然看到所有这些东西简直不可想象。敌人就在附近，{jd1}真实而不是游戏。”

Korengal Valley, 2007

2007年，Korengal山谷
Balazs Gardi focuses on capturing the everyday life of those caught in humanitarian crises. He first visited Afghanistan in 2001 and has returned more than ten times.
Balazs Gardixx那些在人道危机中遭遇者的日常生活。他于2001年去了阿富汗，先后去过十多次。
"War is very cruel. My job as a photographer is to explain what's happening and to provoke emotions. I had been following a platoon in the Korengal Valley when the American soldiers intercepted a radio conversation from a house indicating enemy activity. They decided to hit it with rockets. It's hard to tell here who was killed because typically the other side take their wounded and dead fighters with them. The villagers said there were five dead and 11 wounded, all women and children. They put them all in one room. After the Americans showed up the next morning, the villagers asked permission to bury their dead. Then they brought out the injured children, one by one, for the American medics to treat. This boy had shrapnel wounds. He survived, but his injuries were very painful. Without any barrier of language, this photo makes you feel the horror of war, of what it has done to Afghans."

“战争太残酷了。我的职业就是解释发生了什么和鼓动情感。当美军监听到来自于房子中关于敌人行动的无线电谈话时，在Korengal山谷我曾经跟随过一个排。他们决定使用火箭弹进行攻击。几乎很难说出谁被打死了，因为同时还得救治伤员，同时死者就在旁边。村民们说有五死一伤，所有人都是妇女与儿童。”他们将所有人集中在一间屋子中，当第二天美军露面时，村民们请求掩埋死者。然后他们将伤者一个挨一个地送来，等待美军军医xx。这个孩子被榴弹击中非常严重。他活了下来，但是他的伤口非常痛苦。不存在语言障碍，这张照片就使你感受到了战争的残酷，以及感受到阿富汗人民发生了什么。”

Kabul, 2008

2008年，喀布尔
Donald Weber has been documenting daily life in post-Soviet countries since 2005. He made one trip to Afghanistan, in 2008.
Donald Weber自从2005年以来始终在记录前苏联国家的日常生活。2008年他到访过一次阿富汗。
"I wanted to show something different from what I was used to seeing in pictures of Afghanistan—something positive. When I was in this room, I was quite shocked because, being a man, I thought it would be impossible to go inside Afghan women's homes. I was surprised by the warmth and hospitality they extended to me. And they were nothing like what I thought Afghan women would be or the images I had seen. They didn't have burkas, and they immediately came up and talked to me. This picture is of two girls working on an embroidery machine. The young ones have to power the machines. So they go to school, come home, and start pedaling. No shoes. Their mother was an entrepreneur. Her husband was an alcoholic; she saw that he wasn't going to do anything for her. She received a $200 loan through a microfinance program run by a nonprofit. Every month, she had to pay them back $5 or $10. First she bought a sewing machine, then the embroidery machine. She eventually wanted to buy a cow."

“在这张反映阿富汗积极面的照片中我想拍摄一些不同于以往的东西。当我在这间房子中时，作为一个男人，我被深深地触动了，本来我认为进入阿富汗妇女的房间几乎是不可能的。我对她们给予我的热情与友善而感到震惊。她们一点也不象我所想象的样子。她们没有戴头巾，她们立即站起来与我交谈。这幅照片是两个女孩在锈花机上劳作。年龄小一点的不得不蹬锈花机。当然她们是上学、放学然后开始劳作。没有鞋子。她们的妈妈是一位企业家。她老公是一个酒鬼。她发现他不能为她做任何事情。她从一家非赢利性的微型信贷机构贷了200美元。每月她不得不偿还5美元或10美元。首先她购买了一台缝纫机，然后就是一台锈花机。她最终想购买一头牛。”

Herat, 2005

2005年，Herat
Stephanie Sinclair first visited Afghanistan in 2003 and has been back four times.
Stephanie Sinclair于2003年首次到访阿富汗，先后去过四次。
"This picture shows how life goes on, no matter what. It was an engagement party, and all the kids tried to peek inside. The women were singing and clapping. Most had their burkas off. It was a place for them to let their hair down. Some girls came up to me with a camera. My headscarf had fallen down, so I pulled it up. They laughed and pulled it down again. They wanted a picture of me as I ordinarily would be. The only difference between us is where I was born and my opportunities. We have to fight for and take care of each other. Photography is the way I know how to do that. "

“这张照片显示了无论发生什么，日子都得过。它是一场订婚聚会，所有的孩子都想往其中偷看。妇女们边唱歌边拍手。多数人将面纱取下了。对于她们来说这是一个可以将头发松开的地方。一些女孩带着相机走近我。我的头巾掉下来了。因此我将它捡了起来。她们边笑着边再次将我的头巾弄下来。她们想要一张我本来样子的图片。我们之间{wy}的不同是我的出生国与我的机会。我们不得不共同战斗并互相照料。拍照就是我所知道的可实现这一目的的一种方式。”

    有时间欢迎品评我的其他相关原创译文：

1、BBC：阿富汗现状（中英文）----感受灾难深重的国度