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Razistan: Afghanistan’s Land of Secrets

President Obama may have declared a “new chapter” in Afghanistan last week, but to the creators of Razistan, a new photography project about the region, his words were more rhetoric than reality. For more than 10 years now, American troops have been fighting an expensive and bloody war in Afghanistan: 88,000 U.S. troops remain in the area, and last year was the deadliest so far for civilian casualties. Yet even in an election cycle — and amid the dire statistics — the conversation is focused elsewhere. Coverage of Afghanistan accounts for barely 2 percent of U.S. news stories.

“It’s appalling,” says Marcos Barbery, the cofounder and publisher of Razistan, which launched on Tumblr this month. “People’s lives, how the war is impacting them on a daily basis … it’s just completely cut from the conversation.” Barbery hopes to change all that by showcasing Afghanistan from beyond the veil of war.

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