Afghan parkour stars hone spectacular stunts on palaces ravaged by 40 years of war
Sport of parkour brings joy to youngsters amid fear of Taliban attacks
On the dusty streets of Kabul, amid the ruins of war, a group of young Afghans are finding freedom among the blast walls and checkpoints through the back-flipping sport of parkour.
They practise the discipline, which combines running, acrobatics and gymnastics, in forgotten corners of the Afghan capital such as Darul Aman, the former royal palace reduced to a wreck by nearly 40 years of war.
Parkour, which originated in France in the 1990s and is also known as free-running, involves getting around urban obstacles with a fast-paced mixture of jumping, vaulting, running and rolling.
For Khair Mohammad Zahidi and the rest of Afghan Parkour Generation, a 20-member group based in Kabul, it brings joy and a sense of liberty in a city permanently on edge for fear of Taliban attacks.
"When we do parkour, it raises our confidence. It brings us excitement. And we really enjoy it," the 21-year-old said.
It is a far cry from the days of the hardline Taliban who banned most sports apart from football and bodybuilding during their 1996-2001 rule. Exposure to Western culture since the Taliban were overthrown in a US-led invasion in 2001 has transformed Afghanistan's previously isolated society.
"Since this sport is new in Afghanistan, when we do parkour a lot of spectators come around us, and it looks funny for them, they think we have springs inside our bodies," Zahidi said.