Thomas Dworzak - Taliban - 2003

This rare and important book by the Magnum photographer Thomas Dworzak was produced from photographs he collected after the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2002.

Days after the Taliban had fled the city of Kandahar, the Magnum photographer Thomas Dworzak discovered portraits of men in high-heeled sandals with make-up - a tradition of the native Pashtuns long noted for their flamboyancy - hanging up alongside photographs of Hollywood movie stars. With sultry poses in front of often garish backdrops, this is an illicit side of the Taliban, not expected to be exposed.

Zealotry has many forms of madness, and the Taliban are no exception. In the Toyota Land Cruiser abandoned in Kandahar by Mullah Omar, the man who banned music on pain of prison and torture, was found a cache of popular music CDs.

Kandahar, a city of Pashtuns noted for their gaiety, so to speak, where Mullah Omar had made his final headquarters, has traditions of men in high-heeled sandals, with make-up of kohl and painted nails like sultry silent-movie stars. They liked to have their pictures taken and, because the Taliban most certainly needed passports, their vanities were accommodated in the hole-in-the-wall photo shops that exist in downtown Kandahar.

The Magnum photographer Thomas Dworzak, on war assignment for the New Yorker, discovered their photographs days after they had fled the city. They hung among portraits of Bruce Lee, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ahmed Shah Massoud, their faces retouched by the artful brushwork of the photographer.

As exotic backdrops the subjects have chosen chalets in the Swiss Alps, where the mountains are green and Julie Andrews sings, rather than the forbidding grey and brown of their own country. Some are alone, others with a friend or a Kalashnikov, with garish colours stroked into the theme, along with flowers. They were the killers who have fled, leaving behind an absurd record of their presence.

The Taliban interpretation of Islamic rules stated photography or any depiction of living beings (humans or mammals) was illegal. But when passport photography was re-allowed, some Taliban members would ask to pose for a more flattering, retouched portrait secretly taken in the back room of the studio. It is thought that most of these pictures are from Taliban members who had them taken in early November 2001, but could not pick them up as they had to flee the advancing opposition and United States’ bombing.

Condition:
Very rare first German edition - published simultaneously with the English edition. No dust jacket as issued. Very minor edgewear to top and bottom of spine. Tiny bump to lower front corner. Old price sticker on rear cover. Please examine listing photographs carefully.