After my embed, I spent a few days shooting a story on day laborers in Kabul. So strange, exactly the same situation as in the US- out of work men, standing on street corners, hoping for just a few hours of work. The unemployment in Afghanistan is rampant, there is almost no economic development, and it all provides kindling for the insurgency.
Day laborer Abdul Moihd, 23, rests with other laborers in the cheap hotel where he sleeps after a day looking for work at the Chowk-E-Kut-E-Sangi circle in western Kabul, Afghanistan Tuesday June 16, 2009. Abdul is from the district of Chak in Wardak province, an area where Taliban militants operate freely. He has come to Kabul seeking work to help support his family at home. According to a report by the Asian Development Bank, unemployment in Afghanistan is an estimated 40% of the labor force. Day laborers like Abdul have little other options for work in a country where chronic unemployment is believed to contribute to instability and fuel the Taliban insurgency.
http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/victorblue/gallery/Kabul-Day-Laborers/G0000rhY_8tol7oo/
