Khalid Hadi was 11 when he became the photographer for a Kandahar-based Islamic relief foundation. The organization provided financial support to mujahedin warriors and civilians wounded in the Afghan-Soviet war or by the factional fighting that followed. Using a wooden box camera, Hadi documented the injuries of 10,000 aid recipients from 1992 to 1994 -- including future Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. In April 2021, Vienna-based Fraglich Publishing released a small fraction of Hadi’s Afghan box camera work in a book titled Disasters Of War: Portraits By Khalid Hadi.
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PHOTO GALLERY: Disasters Of War: Afghan Box Camera Portraits By Khalid Hadi
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Khalid Hadi’s box camera photos were used for administrative purposes by the Kandahar relief foundation that employed him, confirming the identities and injuries of its aid recipients to donors in Saudi Arabia. (courtesy photo from Disasters Of War: Portraits By Khalid Hadi, Fraglich Publishing)
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From 1992 to 1994, Hadi's box camera captured images of wounded guerilla fighters, orphans, and civilian war victims. It was a time when the Taliban was just beginning to form in southern Afghanistan. (courtesy photo from Disasters Of War: Portraits By Khalid Hadi, Fraglich Publishing)
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Courtesy photo from Disasters Of War: Portraits By Khalid Hadi, Fraglich Publishing
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Courtesy photo from Disasters Of War: Portraits By Khalid Hadi, Fraglich Publishing