On Wednesday 29 January, the Frontline club hosted another packed Afghanistan-focused event. Journey to the Roof of the World was a photography event hosted in partnership with Port Magazine and featured a discussion between French photographer Frédéric Lagrange and Rory Stewart MP, chaired by The Independent’s defence correspondent, Kim Sengupta. 

Lagrange presented some of his breathtaking photographs and described his trek through the Wakhan Corridor and his encounters with the Wakhi and Kyrgyz people in the late winter of 2012. Beginning at the city of Ishkashim, Lagrange took the Soviet road eastward, then after this dissipated, he continued on rough mountain terrain following the old silk trader’s route towards Lake Chaqmaqtin.

“We crossed high on the pass and I remember . . . being there on this exact spot when the sun rose, and being able to actually see the sun rising over the Hindu Kush, . . . being able to see the entire trek and path we had come from, it was pretty amazing.”

Stewart, author of The Places in Between, also spent a month walking alone across Afghanistan back in 2002. He described to us his experiences of hospitality in the small villages he encountered along the way, and shared some of his thoughts about the successes and failures of western intervention in the region.

“The West tends to be better at things that don’t require a deep cultural knowledge . . . whereas the West tends to be pretty catastrophic at doing things that require a deep understanding of complex local societies [for example starting an independent central bank as opposed to ensuring the rule of law].”

Enjoyed tonight's @frontlineclub talk with @RoryStewartUK Frederic Lagrange and Kim Sengupta pic.twitter.com/SeLZYZCMVE

— PORT Magazine (@portmagazine) January 29, 2014

The discussion turned to local peoples’ fears of what will happen when NATO terminates its presence later this year:

“I think people are fearing a lot about the NATO retreat,” said Lagrange. “They are questioning a lot what the Afghan government in Kabul can do for the country at large. There is no confidence in the ability of the army, there is no confidence in the military.”

Stewart added his thoughts on the huge variation in tradition and local governance in Afghanistan:

“In Afghanistan, the movement from one village to another is almost a movement you can feel between one universe and another . . . social and political structures can vary in two hours. . . . What the affect of 35 years of conflict has been is to force people back in to their communities, back into their traditional identities. . . . When things begin to go wrong people become much more traditional.”

Both agreed that this traditionalism and a remote environment contributes to the beauty of regions like the Wakhan Corridor. Lagrange said:

“I think Afghanistan has been this mesmerising part of the world. . . . What I am looking for are never-seen images, and places like Afghanistan offer that still. There is an adventure that goes with it.”

However, these bring with them many issues, for example lack of health care, education, and prospects for the young. Stewart said:

“If you were looking for a way to define Afghanistan today it would be fundamentally in terms of a rural/urban divide . . . particularly young people do not want to live in a rural area. . . . Most of us would rather be able to get a pizza and a hot bath!”

Watch the event online or listen again here:

https://soundcloud.com/frontlineclub/in-the-picture-journey-to-the

https://soundcloud.com/frontlineclub/in-the-picture-journey-to-the

In late winter 2012, following in the footsteps of Eric Newby, French photographer Frédéric Lagrange journeyed to the foothills of the Hindu Kush, on assignment for Port Magazine. With minimal camera equipment, he made his way to the Wakhan Corridor – in the north-eastern Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan – a thin finger of land reaching eastwards to China, and dividing Tajikistan to the north and Pakistan to the south.

In this isolated and somewhat independent region – known by those who live there as the roof of the world – Lagrange spent a month living with and photographing the Wakhi people, whose lifestyle has changed little in hundreds of years.

Due to their remoteness they avoided much of the terror exercised upon the people of Afghanistan by the Taliban, but now there is a growing anxiety as to what the coming years may hold.  With the Nato withdrawal fast approaching, they are recalling the violence that took sway 25 years ago during the two-year Mujahideen presence following the Soviet retreat.

Lagrange will be joining us in a discussion chaired by the The Independent’s defence correspondent, Kim Sengupta and featuring Rory Stewart MP, whose 32-day solo walk across Afghanistan in early 2002 was the basis for his first book, The Places in Between. Lagrange will present his work and they will discuss the fears and concerns he heard from the Wakhi people about the upcoming Nato withdrawal and an uncertain future.