Brutal Honesty Photojournalist Reza Speaks on Work Depicting War-Torn Afghanistan by Serena Lei Iranian photojournalist Reza is speaking to a sold-out crowd at the National Geographic Society as part of the ìLive Ö from National Geographicî lecture series. ìIf we make the wrong decision in Afghanistan, it will affect our futures, all of us, and our children.î His photographs, as well as his words, are compelling and direct. A soft-spoken, intelligent man whom author Sebastian Junger described as having ìnerves of steel,î Reza not only documents the conflict in Afghanistan, he also works passionately to support humanitarian efforts in the region. At the age of 16, Reza published a two-page newsletter in his high school questioning the widening poverty gap in Iran. ìTwo days later,î he explained, ìsecret police came and arrested meÖ. The director started hitting me in the face with my newspaper, and all I could think was, ëMy God, Iím happy I didnít write a book!íî That he can now make light of the situation reveals an uncommon strength. Reza was warned to stay away f rom journalism, but the threats only strengthened his resolve. He was arrested again at the age of 22, tortured for five months, and jailed for three yearsósuspected of being linked to a network of conspirators. Reza does not use his last name professionally to avoid recognition by Iranian authorities and others who have threatened him for his investigative photography. Reza has traveled the world as a photojournalist for Newsweek, Time and National Geographic, but Afghanistan has special meaning to him. On his first trip to Afghanistan, after the Soviet invasion, the mujahideen escorted Reza through the mountains to Kabul. Along certain passages, his escorts moved ahead to walk side by side with him. Reza later learned they were effectively creating a human wall to shield him in areas they knew to be more dangerous. Reza was moved by their instinctive protection and by their struggle for democracy. In November 2000, National Geographic Adventure magazine paired Reza with Junger, journalist and best-selling author of ìThe Perfect Storm.î They spent a month with Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Northern Alliance resistance leader and Rezaís longtime friend. ìMassoud was a friend,î Reza said. ìHe was more than a military manóhe was a man of culture. We would sit for hours at night Ö reciting poetry. When I talked to Massoud, I realized that I had in front of me, a man of history, not just of Afghanistan.î Rezaís photographs of the region are effective and brutally honest. Explaining his passion about his work, Reza said, ìI have seen thousands of dead bodies, mutilated and wounded. I cry every time I see this Ö itís like seeing it for the first time. The emotion that I give to these people is in my pictures. It is my pictures, plus my tears.î Rezaís photographs often focus on children, whom he sees as the real victims of war. A young boy leads his blind grandfather through rocky mountain paths. They have traveled for three weeks, escaping their village after Soviet airplanes bombed it. A girl, no more than 5, sits alone in a refugee camp. She wears an expression of resignation, burdened with a sorrow beyond her years. A boy runs through a field of blooming red poppies, unaware that the opium is harvested to produce heroin. After Sept. 11, Reza and Junger returned to Afghanistan. Showing a photograph of Afghan families pointing to the sky and cheering, Reza explained that he had never seen Afghans so happy to see American jets flying overhead. His photographs capture Afghans spilling out into the streets after the Taliban left Kabul, laughing and singing, a man proudly holding up a caramel-colored bottle of Coca-Cola labeled ìBottled in Afghanistan,î and men lining up to purchase postcards of Indian actresses. That type of freedom and joy is best represented in the now familiar images of women removing their burkhas and showing their faces in public for the first time since the Taliban took over. Rezaís humanitarian efforts have included working with the United Nations to distribute food and aid to Afghanistan and reuniting families through photographs of lost refugee children. A year ago, he founded AoeNA, a non-profit organization supporting free and independent media in Afghanistan. AoeNA, which means ìmirrorî in Farsi, provides funding, materials and training to journalists. Professional Afghan journalists who have only known work under government direction are being taught the principles of free pressóa key to rebuilding Afghanistan. Already, seven publications are being produced, including two publications dedicated to, and written by, women. In one photograph, a woman wearing a burkha reads a newsletter with the headline ìBehind the Burkha.î For Reza, AoeNAís principles are something he has been fighting for his entire life. ìIíve been in prison, torturedóand not just to go and have someone tell me what to write. I am fighting for my values.î Although few would disagree with Rezaís values, his lecture was not without controversy. Reza claims that corrupt Pakistani generals who instituted the Taliban were profiting from the sale of opium. Afghanistan had been the worldís foremost supplier of opium until the Taliban banned farmers from growing the crop. During the ban, opium production dropped dramatically. When pressed, Reza turned the subject away from drug trade to the Central Asian Oil Pipeline Project. It is no secret that U.S. and Pakistani interests would be well served by the proposed pipeline from the Caspian Sea through Afghanistan, but its role in bringing the Taliban to power has been diminished in the media. When Reza said that Massoudís assassination was ì100 percentî linked to the attack on Sept. 11, his conviction, not the connection, was a surprise to some. Reza was not facing a hostile audience, but he was expecting one. ìBecause my point of view is so different than the American point of view Ö I was waiting for someone to say, ëI am upset, what you are saying is wrong,í but it didnít happen,î Reza said. ìI met 20 or 30 people after each talk, and they were saying, ëThank you for opening our eyes.íî For more information on ìLive ... from National Geographic,î the National Geographic Society series of lectures, films and musical performances, please call (202) 857-7700 or visit www.nationalgeographic.com/lectures. For more information about AoeNA, please visit www.ainaworld.org. Serena Lei is an arts writer for The Washington Diplomat.