Postcards from the Front Lines
Ruins of War a Reminder of Difficult Rebuilding Tasks Ahead

See pictures on ruins of war in Afghanistan. Dec. 10, 2001.

Listen to Steve Inskeep's recent reports from Afghanistan.

Remains of a cinema in downtown Kunduz. When the Taliban ruled Kunduz, it banned all movies and destroyed the city's theaters. Photo: Steve Inskeep, NPR • View the photo gallery

December 2001 -- From Kunduz and Mazar-e-Sharif in the north to Kandahar in the south, Afghanistan is populated by ruins that offer mute testimony to centuries of strife.

There are recent scars. Taliban extremists destroyed the movie theater in Kunduz. But many of the wounded structures clinging to the rugged landscape have endured for hundreds of years. The ancient city of Balkh, in northern Afghanistan, for example, is still graced by buildings that were damaged by Genghis Khan's invading army in the 13th century.

Images of these ruins, old and new, were captured by NPR's Steve Inskeep as he reported from the front lines in Afghanistan. They are vivid reminders of the challenges the newly selected Afghan interim government will face as it attempts to rebuild a war-torn nation.

In Depth

See NPR's photo gallery on the siege and fall of Kunduz, Afghanistan. Nov. 26, 2001.

See Steve Inskeep's pictures from the Northern Alliance front lines. Nov. 20, 2001.

View more NPR photos from Afghanistan.