Kabul in the 1950s "Mad Men furniture, pencil skirts, record stores and factories"

[C. Flower]

Picked this up from a tweet by Brian Lucey. Personally, I've learned more from it than from the Wikileaks.

Afghanistan was once a rapidly secularising state moving towards a modern economy and democracy. It took a decades-long intervention from western powers to put paid to that.

In Iraq, it was done faster. Now Iran is on the list - and much of Africa.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...sms_ss=twitter

A half-century ago, Afghan women pursued careers in medicine; men and women mingled casually at movie theaters and university campuses in Kabul; factories in the suburbs churned out textiles and other goods. There was a tradition of law and order, and a government capable of undertaking large national infrastructure projects, like building hydropower stations and roads, albeit with outside help. Ordinary people had a sense of hope, a belief that education could open opportunities for all, a conviction that a bright future lay ahead. All that has been destroyed by three decades of war, but it was real.

I have since had the images in that book digitized. Remembering Afghanistan's hopeful past only makes its present misery seem more tragic. Some captions in the book are difficult to read today: "Afghanistan's racial diversity has little meaning except to an ethnologist. Ask any Afghan to identify a neighbor and he calls him only a brother." "Skilled workers like these press operators are building new standards for themselves and their country." "Hundreds of Afghan youngsters take active part in Scout programs." But it is important to know that disorder, terrorism, and violence against schools that educate girls are not inevitable. I want to show Afghanistan's youth of today how their parents and grandparents really lived.

Biology class, Kabul University