Signs of normality in Buner
Women wait for government food aid in Ambela, one of the main towns of Buner district, where a Taliban incursion sparked the Pakistani offensive in late April. More than 2 million residents fled the region as fighting escalated; the government aid is meant to encourage residents to return.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Children gather hoping to get free toys during a government handout in the town of Ambela in Buner. There were not enough toys to satisfy all of those gathered. The Pakistani army and paramilitary Frontier Corps have sought to accelerate the recovery process for the district, about 60 miles from the nations capital, Islamabad, with a series of food aid campaigns. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
In the town Sultanwas, Sultan Mehmood, who has just returned to Buner, speaks with Pakistani forces. My house was destroyed by a missile and even the mosque was hit, he says. “Because all the wreckage is jumbled together, we dont know who belongs to whom, so there could be big fights ahead. And government aid still hasnt arrived. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
People from across Buner traveled to Ambela to get food during a government distribution. They wait for transportation in the shade of a damaged building. The communities have a strong tradition of self-sufficiency, Pakistani officials say, and the distribution is meant to supplement, not replace, the residents efforts to get back on their feet. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
An elderly woman waits in the shade by the rubble of the Ambela Hotel in Ambela, in Buner district. She had traveled to Ambela to get food rations distributed by the Pakistani military. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Pakistani women wait to be registered for food aid at a military distribution center in Ambela, in Buner. As part of its hearts-and-minds campaign, the government has ordered paramilitary forces to assist civilian authorities in getting government agencies up and running soon. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Residents wait for the food distribution to begin in Buner. “There are 18 of us in my family, and Im almost sure there wont be anything more when I reach the front, said one man in line. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Soldiers stand guard in the town of Sultanwas, which was heavily damaged in the Pakistani military’s campaign against Taliban militants who had set up a base in the area. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
A resident of Sultanwas in Pakistan’s Buner district navigates the rubble of homes that had been hit in the military campaign against Taliban militants. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
