The Real News Network
SAMULLAH (SUBTITLED TRANSLATION): There is nothing else here but the
black soil of Afghanistan. I was born in Afghanistan. My parents are
still alive. I have two older and one younger brother. I have uncles
and cousins too. They all live in Pakistan as refugees.

VOICEOVER: Samullah is 23, a brick maker minding a kiln on the Shomali
Plain on the outskirts of Kabul. It's a hard life, four men living in
the same bare hut. The ["MOO-ree"], the openings in the kiln's top,
need constant feeding with coal. Samullah returns home every few months
with money for his family. Recently, the brick makers were robbed by
men with guns. It's not the only problem.

SAMULLAH: Our land in Pakistan is not enough to feed the whole family
... as our family is big now. In addition to that ... the security
situation is still not good here. The Taliban are still fighting with
the English and the Afghan National Army. There are still aerial
bombardments and occasionally we get arrested by mistake while we are
walking around in the mountains. We are sometimes mistaken for the
Taliban.

VOICEOVER: It is not well paid, and the men work day and night in
shifts, but it is a job in a country with unemployment running at 40
percent.

SAMULLAH: During the Russian invasion of Afghanistan many houses were
destroyed. People migrated to Pakistan as refugees. There was very
little bread. ... We used corn for bread as it was cheap. But because
of the shortages we had to mix it with other grains to survive. Then
the Taliban arrived and the drought came along with them. It was a bad
drought. ... Farmers were lucky to grow crops for one season. The
present government followed the Taliban and the lives of ordinary
Afghans is a little better.

VOICEOVER: Dawn is breaking, and the men begin to move the chimneys to another area of covered bricks waiting to be fired.

SAMULLAH: If the current insecurity continues, the situation for us may
get worse. But if the government increases the number of police and
improves security... then there is hope. When the Afghan refugees in
Pakistan are asked to return home, they start to protest because there
are no homes, work, or security to return to.

VOICEOVER: The situation for Afghanistan's poor, men like Samullah, is not getting any better.