THE average young person of today is profoundly ignorant of the recent past. Reading about the conditions in Afghanistan in 2009, he/she often assumes the country has always been mired in the "dark ages" — and must somehow be rescued by enlightened "Western civilization". Even in Afghanistan, children have sometimes laughed when told that their country once had good schools, universities, hospitals, and all the other things one expects to find in a modern state. Likewise, few realize that the highly politicized Islam in Afghanistan today represents a break from Afghan traditions. It arose in 1978, after the seizure of power by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan in the Saur Revolution, and acted as a unifying force for those opposed to the PDPA's communist ideology. Since then, of course, it has been a rallying point for those opposed to the Russian and American/Nato invaders.
LEFT: This picture, from National Geographic of September 1968, is captioned "Unveiled daughter of today, attending the festivities [celebrating Afghan independence], asserts woman's freedom."
BELOW: Women in the Faculty of Medicine, Kabul University. Taken from Afghanistan: Cockpit in High Asia, 1966, by Peter King.
