i love all your photos, especially this one!! i was surprised to see this and nostalgically remembered the moment this was taken
(Source: manuallfocus)
Kabul, Afghanistan
The way of life seen through an Afghan’s eye, meet the busy streets of Kabul.
Half a century ago, it was a place of poor but peaceful modernizing land.
Because of endless civil wars and rise of religious fanatics during the early 1990s (and even before that) it continuously set back the growth of Kabul’s economy, society, and culture.
Burka Moms
Family mourning dead child, killed during 1992 - 1996 civil war.
The Taliban, ruled Afghanistan for the most part of the 1990s to 2000s and before that when the Soviets invaded in 1979.
Kabul has suffered 3 decades of war and hardship, people were deprived of their rights of humanity, affecting especially the women as their freedom was forcibly stripped away.
Now women wouldn’t dare to be in public without covering every inch of their skin underneath a burka.
Female rights have suffered caused by the invasion of the Soviets then the Taliban rule.
Disorder, terrorism, and violence were inevitable among school systems that educate females.
Many would agree that Kabul, Afghanistan is an ungovernable chaotic land destroyed by decades of war, the city and its country never truly prevailed since the Middle Ages.
Paghman Gardens 1970s, right outside of Kabul.
Paghman Gardens, now.
This is an example of attempts made to push the freedom in female rights for dress codes and modernizing social and cultural values. It was once an exoctic tourist destination during the sixities and seventies, many Europeans visited Afghanistan.
Western influence was apparent too in the design of the garden reflecting european style gates, as a matter to reform Western dress was also adapted.
Kabul was once nostaligcally rememeber as Paris of he East.
Half a century ago in the 1960s and 1970s, Afghan women pursued careers freely among men, both opposite sexes were able to mingle casually in public, women were able to wear short skirts, pants, t-shirts, they were able to let their skin breathe, like the men.
1950s - 1960s, women pursuing professional careers in medicine
Movie theaters that played Hollywood films
Afghan Women 1978
Co-education in Afghani Universities 1978
Afghan Women 1989
There were factories producing goods and textiles, law and order were present and the government was able to undertake larger international trade, building of hydro power and roads, the city was starting to modernize and move forward but it never finished.
Revisiting Afghanistan’s hopeful past when education was valued and a form of equalizer makes the present seem surreal, but whats present right now is the reality and it is utterly tragic.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/interactives/afghanistanwomen/index.html
randys asked: What are your top 3 favorite colors ?
i never say no to red, nude, and coral…
