Buzkashi in Kabul

One Friday morning in February, men and boys gather under a Kabul haze to watch a Buzkashi game. The location for this event is in Qassaba at the northern edge of the Afghan capital, a wasteground setting that doesn’t lack for drama. Kabul Afghanistan. 19/02/2010.

As civilian and military planes drone skyward from Kabul airport to the South, polished black landcruisers arrive to discourge Panjshiri strongmen and their gun toting heavies. in amongst the growing crowd expensive Uzbek stallions strut and turn and the tang of hashish hangs heavy in the air.

Buzkashi is a traditional horse and rider sport played in late winter and spring in the North of Afghanistan and is often likened to a more visceral version of Polo. Players - known as Chapandas in the language of the game (perhaps because of the thick padded 'chapans' many wear for protection)- tend to be burly men of all ages hailing from the North and North East of the country. Some wear the distinctive padded headgear of a Russian tank commander. All carry the signature Buzkashi whip and are by neccessity excellent horseman.

Whether competing individually or in teams, the aim of the game is for a Chapandas to take hold of an animal carcass (usually a goat or calf) and carry it around a position marked at one end of the ground before returning to deposit it in a circle marked at the opposite end. Matches are characterised by violent scrums of snorting horses and whip wielding men followed by rapid breaks for goal as a rider finds his gap, whip gripped tightly between his teeth and carcass clutched at his side.

Collisions are commonplace. At intervals bloodied players break from the action to tend to their wounds and rest awhile before reentering the fray. Even spectators find themselves at risk throughout the game. Buzkashi rarely stays within the limits of a marked ground and often the horses and riders charge into and through the spectators scattering young and old alike in a tumult of flailing limbs. With each goal the victorious Chapandas trots his horse toward a young boy sitting atop a silver landcruiser who hands over his cash prize. A player who scores often earns several hundred US dollars and the respect of an appreciative crowd.

One Friday morning in February, men and boys gather under a Kabul haze to watch a Buzkashi game. The location for this event is in Qassaba at the northern edge of the Afghan capital, a wasteground setting that doesn’t lack for drama. Kabul Afghanistan. 19/02/2010.

As civilian and military planes drone skyward from Kabul airport to the South, polished black landcruisers arrive to discourge Panjshiri strongmen and their gun toting heavies. in amongst the growing crowd expensive Uzbek stallions strut and turn and the tang of hashish hangs heavy in the air.

Buzkashi is a traditional horse and rider sport played in late winter and spring in the North of Afghanistan and is often likened to a more visceral version of Polo. Players - known as Chapandas in the language of the game (perhaps because of the thick padded 'chapans' many wear for protection)- tend to be burly men of all ages hailing from the North and North East of the country. Some wear the distinctive padded headgear of a Russian tank commander. All carry the signature Buzkashi whip and are by neccessity excellent horseman.

Whether competing individually or in teams, the aim of the game is for a Chapandas to take hold of an animal carcass (usually a goat or calf) and carry it around a position marked at one end of the ground before returning to deposit it in a circle marked at the opposite end. Matches are characterised by violent scrums of snorting horses and whip wielding men followed by rapid breaks for goal as a rider finds his gap, whip gripped tightly between his teeth and carcass clutched at his side.

Collisions are commonplace. At intervals bloodied players break from the action to tend to their wounds and rest awhile before reentering the fray. Even spectators find themselves at risk throughout the game. Buzkashi rarely stays within the limits of a marked ground and often the horses and riders charge into and through the spectators scattering young and old alike in a tumult of flailing limbs. With each goal the victorious Chapandas trots his horse toward a young boy sitting atop a silver landcruiser who hands over his cash prize. A player who scores often earns several hundred US dollars and the respect of an appreciative crowd.

One Friday morning in February, men and boys gather under a Kabul haze to watch a Buzkashi game. The location for this event is in Qassaba at the northern edge of the Afghan capital, a wasteground setting that doesn’t lack for drama. Kabul Afghanistan. 19/02/2010.

As civilian and military planes drone skyward from Kabul airport to the South, polished black landcruisers arrive to discourge Panjshiri strongmen and their gun toting heavies. in amongst the growing crowd expensive Uzbek stallions strut and turn and the tang of hashish hangs heavy in the air.

Buzkashi is a traditional horse and rider sport played in late winter and spring in the North of Afghanistan and is often likened to a more visceral version of Polo. Players - known as Chapandas in the language of the game (perhaps because of the thick padded 'chapans' many wear for protection)- tend to be burly men of all ages hailing from the North and North East of the country. Some wear the distinctive padded headgear of a Russian tank commander. All carry the signature Buzkashi whip and are by neccessity excellent horseman.

Whether competing individually or in teams, the aim of the game is for a Chapandas to take hold of an animal carcass (usually a goat or calf) and carry it around a position marked at one end of the ground before returning to deposit it in a circle marked at the opposite end. Matches are characterised by violent scrums of snorting horses and whip wielding men followed by rapid breaks for goal as a rider finds his gap, whip gripped tightly between his teeth and carcass clutched at his side.

Collisions are commonplace. At intervals bloodied players break from the action to tend to their wounds and rest awhile before reentering the fray. Even spectators find themselves at risk throughout the game. Buzkashi rarely stays within the limits of a marked ground and often the horses and riders charge into and through the spectators scattering young and old alike in a tumult of flailing limbs. With each goal the victorious Chapandas trots his horse toward a young boy sitting atop a silver landcruiser who hands over his cash prize. A player who scores often earns several hundred US dollars and the respect of an appreciative crowd.

One Friday morning in February, men and boys gather under a Kabul haze to watch a Buzkashi game. The location for this event is in Qassaba at the northern edge of the Afghan capital, a wasteground setting that doesn’t lack for drama. Kabul Afghanistan. 19/02/2010.

As civilian and military planes drone skyward from Kabul airport to the South, polished black landcruisers arrive to discourge Panjshiri strongmen and their gun toting heavies. in amongst the growing crowd expensive Uzbek stallions strut and turn and the tang of hashish hangs heavy in the air.

Buzkashi is a traditional horse and rider sport played in late winter and spring in the North of Afghanistan and is often likened to a more visceral version of Polo. Players - known as Chapandas in the language of the game (perhaps because of the thick padded 'chapans' many wear for protection)- tend to be burly men of all ages hailing from the North and North East of the country. Some wear the distinctive padded headgear of a Russian tank commander. All carry the signature Buzkashi whip and are by neccessity excellent horseman.

Whether competing individually or in teams, the aim of the game is for a Chapandas to take hold of an animal carcass (usually a goat or calf) and carry it around a position marked at one end of the ground before returning to deposit it in a circle marked at the opposite end. Matches are characterised by violent scrums of snorting horses and whip wielding men followed by rapid breaks for goal as a rider finds his gap, whip gripped tightly between his teeth and carcass clutched at his side.

Collisions are commonplace. At intervals bloodied players break from the action to tend to their wounds and rest awhile before reentering the fray. Even spectators find themselves at risk throughout the game. Buzkashi rarely stays within the limits of a marked ground and often the horses and riders charge into and through the spectators scattering young and old alike in a tumult of flailing limbs. With each goal the victorious Chapandas trots his horse toward a young boy sitting atop a silver landcruiser who hands over his cash prize. A player who scores often earns several hundred US dollars and the respect of an appreciative crowd.

One Friday morning in February, men and boys gather under a Kabul haze to watch a Buzkashi game. The location for this event is in Qassaba at the northern edge of the Afghan capital, a wasteground setting that doesn’t lack for drama. Kabul Afghanistan. 19/02/2010.

As civilian and military planes drone skyward from Kabul airport to the South, polished black landcruisers arrive to discourge Panjshiri strongmen and their gun toting heavies. in amongst the growing crowd expensive Uzbek stallions strut and turn and the tang of hashish hangs heavy in the air.

Buzkashi is a traditional horse and rider sport played in late winter and spring in the North of Afghanistan and is often likened to a more visceral version of Polo. Players - known as Chapandas in the language of the game (perhaps because of the thick padded 'chapans' many wear for protection)- tend to be burly men of all ages hailing from the North and North East of the country. Some wear the distinctive padded headgear of a Russian tank commander. All carry the signature Buzkashi whip and are by neccessity excellent horseman.

Whether competing individually or in teams, the aim of the game is for a Chapandas to take hold of an animal carcass (usually a goat or calf) and carry it around a position marked at one end of the ground before returning to deposit it in a circle marked at the opposite end. Matches are characterised by violent scrums of snorting horses and whip wielding men followed by rapid breaks for goal as a rider finds his gap, whip gripped tightly between his teeth and carcass clutched at his side.

Collisions are commonplace. At intervals bloodied players break from the action to tend to their wounds and rest awhile before reentering the fray. Even spectators find themselves at risk throughout the game. Buzkashi rarely stays within the limits of a marked ground and often the horses and riders charge into and through the spectators scattering young and old alike in a tumult of flailing limbs. With each goal the victorious Chapandas trots his horse toward a young boy sitting atop a silver landcruiser who hands over his cash prize. A player who scores often earns several hundred US dollars and the respect of an appreciative crowd.

One Friday morning in February, men and boys gather under a Kabul haze to watch a Buzkashi game. The location for this event is in Qassaba at the northern edge of the Afghan capital, a wasteground setting that doesn’t lack for drama. Kabul Afghanistan. 19/02/2010.

As civilian and military planes drone skyward from Kabul airport to the South, polished black landcruisers arrive to discourge Panjshiri strongmen and their gun toting heavies. in amongst the growing crowd expensive Uzbek stallions strut and turn and the tang of hashish hangs heavy in the air.

Buzkashi is a traditional horse and rider sport played in late winter and spring in the North of Afghanistan and is often likened to a more visceral version of Polo. Players - known as Chapandas in the language of the game (perhaps because of the thick padded 'chapans' many wear for protection)- tend to be burly men of all ages hailing from the North and North East of the country. Some wear the distinctive padded headgear of a Russian tank commander. All carry the signature Buzkashi whip and are by neccessity excellent horseman.

Whether competing individually or in teams, the aim of the game is for a Chapandas to take hold of an animal carcass (usually a goat or calf) and carry it around a position marked at one end of the ground before returning to deposit it in a circle marked at the opposite end. Matches are characterised by violent scrums of snorting horses and whip wielding men followed by rapid breaks for goal as a rider finds his gap, whip gripped tightly between his teeth and carcass clutched at his side.

Collisions are commonplace. At intervals bloodied players break from the action to tend to their wounds and rest awhile before reentering the fray. Even spectators find themselves at risk throughout the game. Buzkashi rarely stays within the limits of a marked ground and often the horses and riders charge into and through the spectators scattering young and old alike in a tumult of flailing limbs. With each goal the victorious Chapandas trots his horse toward a young boy sitting atop a silver landcruiser who hands over his cash prize. A player who scores often earns several hundred US dollars and the respect of an appreciative crowd.