After all the build up, uncertainty, and fear, I finally arrive at my destination. I'm so relieved to be travelling with Matt, Teresa and Jakob. They ...
So those of you who know and care, which excluding my mum is no telephone directory, will be aware that last week was to 'close' what Gillette are to shaving - a whisker away!
Going back is always the most dangerous thing you can do because terrorists frequently plant secondary devices, and the crowd so often turn on any westerners who are there. Photojournalists always reside in this complex middle ground between respect and getting the story. Without them we would not know the truth of conflict, and yet there can be a prurient side to our endeavors - what to do, the world should see the truth. We weigh these things up, and make our decisions, and this time it was a mistake, it could have been a terminal one.
A major offensive on Taliban strongholds has been launched by Afghan security forces, supported by British troops. Among those overseeing the Afgha...
In Afghanistan you get power cuts every day, lots of them. There are times I admit that I do get a little frustrated with the internet going on the blink, particularly when you are in the middle of email sex with someone who is four time zones removed.
The New York Times has suggested that the Taliban might be willing to consider human rights and women's rights in negotiations for a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan. After my visit to Totia High School, I find that suggestion nearly impossible to believe...
Everyone here plays a game of I spy when they are out and about. The idea is that you are trying to work out which of the 200,000 Toyota Corollas in front of you is loaded with fertilizer and ball bearings. It's not quite like the version of the game you played with your parents when stuck on the M6 trying to holiday in the lakes.
In Afghanistan, officially of course, you can't get pork, as officially you can't get a drink, *hiccup* but of course it is available. But here is the rub, you find yourself eating bacon that could have been stripped from a rat, a small, infected rabid rat at that. It bears no resemblance to any bacon I have ever eaten.
Next to my tent in Camp Bastion is the Vigil Ceremony Parade Ground, where those killed in action are remembered. Inscribed on the monument are the names of all the soldiers that have given their lives in Helmand. Carved into stone are these words: "When you go home tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow we gave our today."
A week before I'm due to leave Australia, there's a bomb blast at the Safi Landmark hotel in Kabul, a hotel frequented by internationals Am I anxious...
We patrolled for six hours, a wearing journey I can assure you, and whilst never blasé, you can also become a little un-attentive after a while. 50 yards behind me a soldier lost his legs a couple of weeks back, 600 yards to my left is a sniper, to the front is a compound with insurgents, we can see them watching us, and the same to our right, a compound chock full of people who rightly or wrongly wish us ill.
I want to give you the impression that s****ing in a bag is a messy and undignified business, that somehow on first attempt I got it wrong, and sheepishly headed for the laundry. But it was annoyingly easy and hygienic.
When I first heard that I was going to Helmand, well I was thrilled. Mayonnaise is my favourite condiment by a country mile, and to be spending two weeks at the home of Mayonnaise was a career high. And then I realised that I was going to Helmand, not Hellman as I had thought and I was crestfallen.
In October 2011, I closed down my world in a leafy provincial English town in and headed to Kabul, with the avowed intent to establish myself as an internationally recognised photojournalist. I decided to chronicle the experience of my day-to-day life in my online Kabul Diaries.
It took five years to complete, and now it’s finally ready: the world’s biggest Qur’an has been unveiled in Kabul. Calligrapher Mohammad Sabi...
A week before I'm due to leave for Kabul to take up the position, there's a devastating suicide bombing in Kabul at a supermarket frequented by many foreigners. A prominent human rights lawyer, her husband and three little children were killed, along with a French film maker and two Afghan security guards.
On a cold December day Julian Assange, Steve Coogan and Hugh Grant were in London on serious business attending respective legal cases. Over in Par...
Two British contractors were among 13 people killed when a suicide bomber rammed a military convoy in Afghanistan, the Foreign Office said. Five co...
Video has emerged of the moment that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton learned of the death of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi via a messag...
The most senior military officer in the US has accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of aiding Afghan militants in an attack on the US embassy in Kab...
A string of attacks by Taliban fighters in the Afghan capital of Kabul that have targeted the United States Embassy, Nato headquarters and government ...
In a small park just outside the sleepy Wiltshire town of Wootton Bassett, there are 35,000 wooden crosses planted in neat lines. Each has a red poppy pinned to its centre; many have photos of the smiling faces of deceased British soldiers clipped to them by loved ones.
The tragic attack in Kabul last Friday is felt intensely throughout the British Council but, while there is demand for our work and presence, we will continue.
PRESS ASSOCATION -- The Taliban attack on the British Council offices in Kabul has underlined the failure of the western strategy in Afghanistan, the ...
At least 10 people have been killed after suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the British Council compound in Kabul, the Afghan capital. The attac...
