‘Islam permits what is typically prohibited’: How faith, fear, and loss converged in earthquake-affected Afghanistan

A village in Afghanistan’s overlooked Kunar province undergoes reconstruction in the wake of an earthquake, largely unobserved by the global community.

Within Spedar village, walnuts drop from trees, their gentle thud audible to a keen ear. The scene is also marked by the babbling of a stream, the lowing of cows, and a distant rooster’s crow piercing the calm. Girls are seen carrying bundles of dried corn stalks and grass from the fields.

From the elevated vantage point of the mountainside, the village seems peaceful. However, on the opposite side of the valley, ruined dwellings disrupt this serene rural landscape.

Then again, people like you never arrived either—it was deemed too perilous. Yet, having someone relay our needs to the world is also valuable.”

After the midday prayer, they escorted me back to the car, presenting a plastic bag filled with walnuts – a gesture of hospitality from the village.

As we descend the mountain, I again discern the sound that characterized the start of the day—walnuts dropping sequentially into the dust. A hushed, enduring rhythm that declares: life, even in this location, continues.