Life Before the Taliban: Afghanistan in the 1960s - 1

Life Before the Taliban: Afghanistan in the 1960s

Afghanistan was not always the war-torn land of today. Back in 1967, university professor Dr. Bill Podlich went to Afghanistan for two years. He was accompanied by his wife, Margaret, and two teenage daughters, Jan and Peg. While working with UNESCO at the Higher Teachers College in Kabul, he traveled around the country and took many pictures.

This was while Afghanistan was still a kingdom, and the Westernized cities provided a stark contrast to the rural areas. It was a time before the 1973 coup, which hastened modernization, and the 1979 Soviet-backed coup, which started the bloody ten years of the Soviet-Afghan war. The Taliban took over in 1996 and it’s an open question how much of the splendor we see in the pictures survived until the American invasion in 2001.

More info: pbase.com

Young Photographer At Paghman Gardens

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Education Under The Trees

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Afghan High School Girls

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The American International School Of Kabul Parking Lot

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Decorating Cakes

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Sharing Tea & Music

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Students At The Higher Teachers College Of Kabul

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Hanging Out At AISK

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Kindergarten Dance

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Co-education

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Bus Driver

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Bus Trip

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Frying Up Dessert

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Shopping For Scarves

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Afghan Hound

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Rush Hour

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Blonde & Afghans

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Kabul Gorge

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Big Sister

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Salang Pass Tunnel

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Martynas Klimas

Writes like a mad dervish, rolls to dodge responsibility, might have bitten the Moon once.