Pictures from Afghanistan from a bygone age before it was decimated by the Soviets, the USA, Hafizullah Amin and, much later, the Taliban.
Pop music without fatwas
The old guard
Education for girls
Jobs for women (in skirts and cute head scarfs)
More jobs for women
University with some decadent gender mixing thrown in
Honest jobs in industries
Adequate fuel and electricity
Big hat tip: Tarek Fatah
7 Comments
I wonder how wide-spread this was? I can’t imagine the opportunities afforded to women would have been available to those outside of Kabul, nor the pop music or, more importantly, the “adequate supply of fuel and electricity”. When were the pictures taken?
As an asside, I could probably paint a very rosey picture of present-day North Korea by carefully cherry-picking a handful of photographs and claiming they are indicative of life there. To do so, however, would be disingenous.
“As an asside, I could probably paint a very rosey picture of present-day North Korea by carefully cherry-picking a handful of photographs and claiming they are indicative of life there.”
You’re right, they are, aren’t they? I thought they were amazing photos from a period in history, some 60-70 years ago, when nascent states coming out of colonialism would issue images like these to show to the world how far and fast they were advancing into the “modern world”. Whether they were truly representative of the reality in that country was a different matter.
The sad irony of these photos is that no one yet knows when Afghanistan will be able to issue photos that even come close to these.
I think the photograph titled “The Old Guard” shows the government ministers of Shah Muhammad Zahir, including – at the head of the table – what looks very much like his cousin and then prime minister, Muhammad Daoud Khan.
The latter overthrew his cousin, the last Shah of Afghanistan, and declared Afghanistan a republic in 1973, becoming the country’s first president. In turn, he was assassinated in 1978 at the peak of the so-called Saur Revolution of the People’s Democratic Party (PDPA – the Afghan communist party).
Coincidentally, I used to work with a man who used to run a transcontinental bus service from London, through to Lahore. He said that most of his passengers were Pakistani returning home by the cheapest route – but he also used to cart quite a few on the old Hippy Trail to the Subcontinent. He used to comment frequently a bout what a nice place Kabul was in the 60s and early 70s. People say the same about Khartoum during the same time period, of course.
This guy also used to say that the only dangerous parts of the journey were on the Turkish-Iranian border (Kurdish bandits hijacking trucks and “taxing” travellers) and along the Kyber Pass, where the main issue was with illegal traders from Pakistan and their side-line in banditry.
From the evidence of the women’s fashion, I should say these photographs were taken in the early to mid ’60s.
This “Afghanistan” only existed for less than a decade, in the confines of Kabul, among the Dari-speaking elite. Had history not taken the turn it did, it may have lasted, expanded beyond the capital, and beyond the elite classes, but sadly…so it goes.
Abu Faris and Ryan, thanks for your insights into these photos.