In pictures: Remembering photographer Shah Marai

30 April 2018

Shah Marai, the chief photographer for Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Kabul, has been killed in a bombing in the Afghan capital. Here we present a small selection of his work documenting his homeland.

Afghan residents inspect the site of a suicide bombing outside a voter registration centre in Kabul on 22 April 2018 — Image caption,
Marai regularly photographed the site of suicide bombings. Here, residents inspect one outside a voter registration centre on 22 April this year

An Afghan man digs a grave, 2018 — Image caption,
An Afghan man digs a grave for one of the victims of a suicide attack this year that killed nearly 60 people including children

Two Afghan women weep for their relatives at a hospital following explosions at a Shiite cultural centre in Kabul, 2017 — Image caption,
Two Afghan women weep for their relatives at a hospital following explosions at a cultural centre in Kabul in 2017

US Senator John Kerry laugh with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a press conference at the presidential palace in Kabul, 20 October 2009 — Image caption,
Marai also covered political events in the country. Here then Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US Senator John Kerry were pictured laughing during a press conference at the presidential palace in Kabul in 2009

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown addresses British soldiers of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, 21 August 2008 — Image caption,
Ten years ago, Marai was at Camp Bastion in Helmand when then British PM Gordon Brown addressed British soldiers

A supporter of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah, one of the 41 contenders in the upcoming election, makes her way to a campaign event in Kabul on 4 August 2009 — Image caption,
In 2009 Marai photographed a supporter of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah caught in a beam of light as she made her way to a campaign event

An Afghan health worker administers polio vaccine to a child on the first day of a vaccination campaign in Kabul on October 3, 201 — Image caption,
Marai also documented daily life and some of the more positive events in the country. Here a child is given the polio vaccine during a countrywide immunisation campaign in 2010

Afghan women exercise at the Setara Sahar Afghan Bodybuilding Gym in Herat, 2008 — Image caption,
After years of being cloistered in their homes during Taliban rule, in 2008 Afghan women were pictured by Marai as they attended a gym in Herat

Afghan visitors ride a fairground ride at the Park Shahar or City Park, in Kabul — Image caption,
Afghans on a fairground ride at the Park Shahar or City Park, in Kabul

An employee taking a film reel to be digitised at the state-run Afghan Film department in Kabul — Image caption,
This picture by Marai from 2017 shows some of the thousands of films hidden from the Taliban in the mid-1990s that are now being digitised

An Afghan man walks along a path under snow-laden trees in Kabul, 2017 — Image caption,
An Afghan man walks along a path under snow-laden trees in Kabul

Afghan children play on the turret of an abandoned Soviet tank in the Panjshir valley , 2003 — Image caption,
In the early 2000s, Afghanistan's roads and valleys were littered with the debris of war, mostly Soviet vehicles destroyed by Mujaheedin fighters during the 1979-1989 period of occupation. Here Marai photographed children playing on an abandoned Soviet tank in the Panjshir valley

An Afghan girl from a family which returned from Iran covers her face as she stands in front of her tent on the outskirts of Kabul, February 2008 — Image caption,
This girl was one of more than 6,000 refugees returning to Afghanistan from Iran in 2008

All photographs Shah Marai / AFP