of theif U j mages fro Pakistan and Afghanian The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 29, 2002 -13 "The Permanence of Flight" Transitory realities The culture of the Pakistani-Afghan border is shaped by the anti-cultural feeling of migration. There is no sense of permanence on the border, no idea of rest, Transition is never ephemeral; home is never real, ABOVE: Lacking any real infrastructure, these enterprising vendors in Chaman, Pakistan, took a burnt out truck and made it their chicken soup shop. Even the relative stability of business is painted on the backdrop of constant motion, LEFT Western ideas of childhood stability mean nothing when a new home is made whenever one becomes too weary to press on. These children, uncertain of where they will be tomorrow, have stopped at an Islamic Relief water tank at a Pakistani transition camp outside Chaman. "The Weight of Waiting" Between desolation and dearth There are no welcome signs or smiling faces greeting displaced Afghans. Behind them is their-destroyed autonomy, before them is the unpleasant anonymity of sub-national identity. Between the two is a wasteland, a harsh gulf of nothingness, arbitrarily divided by thin wooden planks and automatic weapons. RIGHT: Refugees, straight out from a daylong walking journey from Kandahar, Afghanistan, to Chaman, Pakistan, enter a United Arab Emirates refugee camp. Hundreds stream across the border every day, but many more stay behind - unable to afford the costs of travel, which includes food and bribes. Contrary to wide spread conceptions about the refugee exodus, violence is not the only impetus for moving. Drought and famine, exacerbated by a collapsed economy, force Afghans to gather what little they can carry and abandon what they can't. BELOW: At the top of the picture is Afghan soil, on the bottom, Pakistan. These distinctions are irrelevant to the refugees awaiting clearance to enter Pakistan. Although it is not home, at least the refugee camps on the other side of the border offer the relative safety of isolation from debilitating violence: Next to my vantage point on the watchtower stood a Pakistani soldier aiming a Chinese machine gun, prepared to fire in the event of any illegal entry attempts.