New cadres of Afghans are being trained to handle essential airport tasks and the Afghan government calls the shots.

From the fall of the Taliban in late 2001 until August 2015, Nato was responsible for managing Afghan airspace and, as one senior official puts it, “did whatever wanted”, often without the Afghan government’s knowledge. The native controllers are part of an important step toward Afghan sovereignty as the country slowly takes control of its own airspace. That’s because the tower represents a rare success story for Afghanistan. The surroundings might not be salubrious but there’s an undeniable buzz in the air. Upstairs, three Afghan controllers and a handful of Portuguese and US contractors make do with an outdated console, using simple magnetised paper strips to track aircraft that include commercial planes, UN jets and US military Black Hawk helicopters in and out of the Afghan capital. “Soviet construction,” someone says, as both an explanation for the tower’s spare design and as reassurance that it isn’t about to collapse. On the long climb up a dusty stairwell, large cracks from a recent earthquake are visible in the bare concrete walls. Rubble litters the ground floor and the lift is out of order. By Danielle Moylan Photography Kiana HayeriĮven by Afghanistan standards, the air-traffic control tower at Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul is bleak.