Crystal Dreams

As foreign troops withdraw and the Taliban return, we explore the lives of Afghanistan's ruby miners.

Over the past four decades, Afghanistan has been in an almost constant state of warfare or internal conflict - enduring Soviet occupation, the rule of the Taliban and a Western-backed authority. As leaderships and ideologies have changed, loyalties also have fragmented. But in the remote Jegdaleki region in the Hindu Kush mountains, life for one group of people has continued largely undisturbed. For generations these tough, resilient villagers have risked life and limb, to mine deep into the barren earth in pursuit of prized red rubies. These jewels are then illicitly traded across the border to Peshawar, Pakistan, to be cut and polished. From there, they are sold all over the world, adorning royalty and the wealthy.