Dog fights pit north against south in Afghanistan

The crowd surges forward as two huge mastiffs launch themselves at each other in the ring, before one ends the bout by grabbing the other's throat, and is then paraded in triumph.

Every Friday morning between November and March, thousands of Afghans flock to a makeshift arena on the outskirts of the Afghan capital Kabul to witness such scenes, with thousands of dollars riding on the outcome.

"That was a great fight," says Said Rahim, a 75-year-old dog fighting aficionado and one of 5,000 men and children who watched mastiff Falang win his bout. "The dogs were very good and it was very special because there was a big bet - 150,000 afghanis ($3,000)."