A watch vendor works within the confines of his hand-painted pushcart on a street in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The Afghan capital, which had been calm in the years following the 2001 ouster of the Taliban government, has been rocked lately by resurgent Taliban forces. Authorities have passed laws aimed at ridding the city of handcarts and donkey carts, which are often used by insurgents to hide explosive devices.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "A New Day in Kabul," December 2002, National Geographic magazine)