MSF - Photographs From Afghanistan, Soviet Occupation

Soviet Occupation (1979-1989)

Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, MSF sends medical teams to Pakistan to assess the needs of Afghan refugees. The teams learn of critical conditions inside Afghanistan and decide to concentrate their efforts within the country.

From Peshawar, Pakistan, small teams of doctors and nurses organize mule trains and negotiate security agreements with local mujahadeen commanders. A journey of several weeks takes them to the northeastern provinces of Paktia and Nuristan, where they provide medical care from May until October, leaving before the heavy snowfall begins.

Over the next ten years, MSF expands its reach to eight provinces. Volunteers conduct surgery, provide primary care in makeshift clinics, and mount vaccination campaigns targeting children. They build and support local hospitals, training staff and bringing supplies. Throughout this period, Soviet forces frequently bomb medical facilities.

In 1986, MSF begins to assist Afghan refugees in Pakistan, where hundreds of thousands of people have sought sanctuary from the fighting.

View Photographs

1 of 8

A convoy carrying medical supplies and eight MSF doctors and nurses travels through the Papruk Pass on its way to Badakshan province. The journey takes three weeks to complete and reaches elevations as high as 10,000 feet above sea level. The convoy often travels at night to avoid detection by Soviet forces.

1986©Didier Lefevre

2 of 8

On the first leg of its journey to Badakshan province, the MSF convoy stops for a rest in the village of Kantiwa in Nuristan province. Early the next morning a young boy and men from the village visit the MSF aid workers.

1986©Didier Lefevre

3 of 8

An MSF team working in Badakshan responds to a request for help following a Soviet bombing of the village of Pustuck. When the doctors and nurses arrive, they find a young boy, named Ahmadjon, and his sister among the wounded civilians. Ahmadjon has no visible wounds, but dies from internal bleeding only minutes after this photograph is taken. His sister survives.

1986©Didier Lefevre

4 of 8

An Afghan man receives treatment for a bullet wound at a small house that MSF has turned into a clinic in the village of Zaragandara in the Yaftal Valley. The MSF doctor prepares his instruments before removing the bullet. The following year, MSF will build a hospital a few hours away from Zaragandara.

7 of 8

In the mountains of Ghazni province, MSF establishes a clinic to treat people in the area. This boy and his father have arrived for a medical consultation.

8 of 8

MSF doctors perform open-air surgery on an Afghan man.

Go to next section > Civil War (1989-1996)




Exhibit Home	Introduction	Soviet Occupation (1979-1989)	Civil War (1989-1996)	Taliban Regime (1996-2001)	US Intervention (2001-2004)

www.doctorswithoutborders.org