Photos: Afghan sewing factory offers lifeline to war widows

Dozens of women widowed by the Afghan war have been given a lifeline by the army, stitching military uniforms indistinguishable from the ones their husbands died in.

The defence ministry employed around 120 women to make uniforms for service members and prisoners at a Kabul factory. Many are widows, but all are related to serving in the military and either died or was invalided out.

Afghanistan has fought a two-decade insurgency by the Taliban since the militants were ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001. Despite supposed peace talks between the warring sides, violence has surged across the country, with thousands of soldiers and civilians killed. Above, U.S. soldiers gather near a destroyed vehicle and protect their faces from rotor wash, as their wounded comrades are airlifted by a Medevac helicopter from the 159th Brigade Task Force Thunder to Kandahar Hospital Role 3 in this file picture.

Roya Naimati, a 31-year-old with four children, was given an apartment in the capital and a job at the factory when her husband drowned in a river during a military operation.

"Initially I lost hope and was wondering how to feed and bring up my little children," she said. "I'm thankful to the defence ministry for this job."

Despite supposed peace talks between the warring sides, violence has surged across the country with thousands of soldiers and civilians killed. Above, Afghan National Army soldiers inspect the site of a car bomb attack on a military base in Shirzad district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan in this file picture.

With her five-year-old daughter next to her at the sewing machine, Naimati is now the breadwinner of her family, earning 12,000 Afghanis ($155) a month.

The exact number of Afghan security personnel killed in the war is unknown, but in 2019, President Ashraf Ghani said more than 45,000 had "paid the ultimate sacrifice" since his election five years earlier.

In deeply conservative Afghanistan, families usually rely on men for financial support.

"I feel sad when I'm sewing because this was the uniform my son was killed in," said 37-year-old Mahbooba Sadid Parwani. "Though my son died, I am happy that other young people are fighting against the Taliban."

"The Taliban might wear this prisoner uniform that I'm sewing... I do not want to even touch it, but am helpless - I have three children."