The Olivier Rebbot Award 2013

Best photographic reporting from abroad in magazines or books

AWARD YEAR: 2013
AWARD NAME: The Olivier Rebbot Award 2013
RECIPIENT: Robert Nickelsberg
AFFILIATION: Prestel
HONORED WORK: Afghanistan – A Distant War

The winner displayed an unparalleled commitment to the story and topic. The depth of his years-long reporting shows a unique perspective and helps brings a deeper understanding to a critical geopolitical topic.


MAY 1988: An Afghan soldier hands a flag in solidarity to a departing Soviet soldier in Kabul on the first day of the army's withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg)

MARCH 1989: Afghan mujahideen move toward the front line during the battle of Jalalabad in Nangahar province. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg)

MAY 1990: Mujahideen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani at a base camp in Khost, near the Pakistan border. An ethnic Pashtun, Haqqani was an early convert to a global jihad and opened his Afghan training camps to all Muslims willing to train and fight for Islam. Haqqani befriended Osama bin Laden in the late 1980s and attracted Arab fighters and volunteers to his training camps along the Afghan-Pakistan border. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg)

MARCH 1993: Two Afghans help a wounded civilian during a battle between rival factions in Kabul. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg)

MARCH 1993: A Kabul family flees its home during factional fighting between President Rabbani's government forces and opposition Hezb-i-Islami and Hezb-i-Wahdat fighters in western Kabul. The fighting marked a continuation of a 1993 operation, in which hundreds of unarmed Hazaras were killed. The dispute for control of western Kabul involved Sunni militias against the Shia Hezb-i-Wahdat. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg)

SEPTEMBER 1996: Taliban soldiers fire a rocket at retreating forces of the Northern Alliance army north of Kabul. The capital fell to the Taliban on September 27, 1996. The Kabul government's defenses collapsed with little resistance to the Taliban advance. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg)

OCTOBER 1996: A Taliban mullah speaks to a crowd gathered in central in Kabul after Taliban forces took control of the capital from the Rabbani government. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg)

MAY 2001: Mujahideen commander Ahmed Shah Massoud walks through a garden in Khoja Bahauddin, Takhar province, near the Tajikistan border. Massoud was assassinated by Arab Al Qaeda members posing as journalists. At this point, the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies had 90 percent control of Afghanistan. Two days later, the 9/11 attacks took place. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg)

MARCH 2002: U.S. Army Sergeant Major Dennis Carey of the 10th Mountain Division looks over a dead Taliban fighter in the Shah-i-Kot Valley, Afghanistan. The position was involved in heavy firing against U.S. soldiers when Operation Anaconda began March 2002. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg)

AUGUST 2006: Three wounded US Army soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division are flown out by a helicopter in Kamdesh, Nuristan. A short fire fight occurred with Islamic militants who fired RPG's at their position. The soldiers suffered shrapnel wounds to eyes and foreheads. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg)

BAGRAM AIR BASE MAY 2013: A contingent of American troops conclude their tour in Afghanistan and prepare to fly home from Bagram Air Base. Others arrive, wearing their helmets. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg)

MAY 2013: Car and truck traffic backs up near an intersection under the Pul-e Sokhta bridge in western Kabul. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg)

(No citation.)