When we arrived at our destination — one of Kabul's 110 refugee camps — a scene of organized chaos greeted us. The World Food Program was distributing flour, sugar and cooking oil to the camp's inhabitants. Boys queued with wheelbarrows to collect their families' rations while unregistered residents begged the NGO workers to include them in the handout. Nearby, the boys' mothers shrieked orders at them from under their burkas.'They said they would return our weapons and recognize our authority as part of the government. But they did nothing for us. … I reminded them of their promise to protect me.'
Despite the draw-down of international forces, violence is on the rise in parts of the country, with civilians bearing the brunt of the conflict.
Kabul, the capital, is now home to 110 refugee camps.
Abdul Samad lost two daughters, a son and 32 members of his extended family when NATO bombed his village in Sangin six years ago.
Refugees must make their own arrangements to bury their dead, as the local cemetery is for the use of Kabul residents only.
Mohammad Sardar, known to all as "The Commander," gave up his arms as part of a NATO-backed policy to assimilate less radical Taliban elements into pro-government militia.
The mortality rates in the camps are high; Ramazan lost his wife in childbirth and his baby daughter is now in hospital.
Sardar says that he agreed to work with the government and US forces but soon found himself abandoned.
He was forced to flee Helmand Province after attacks from the Taliban who regarded him as a traitor.
Sardar says that since he joined the government initiative everyone knows who he is, and won't give him work.
Refugees at Kabul's camps face final indignities in death.