Few nations have faced turmoil like Afghanistan. From a disastrous Soviet occupation to an even bloodier civil war to an imposition of a strict variant of Islamic law to a western invasion…oh, what turbulent times.
But it wasn’t always that way. Let’s rewind a century to the Roaring 20’s. In 1919 Afghanistan gained independence from the United Kingdom. Like Baghdad, Iraq (which did not gain independence from Great Britain until 1932) Kabul became a melting pot of east and west. British-influence remained, but Afghanis further developed their own culture, architecture, and landscaping that made cities like Kabul fascinating…and safe…destinations in the 1920s.
The Daily Mail recently featured dozens of photos of 1920’s Afghanistan. You can view them here and it is worth a few minutes of your time.
Quite a difference than my own trip to Afghanistan (read the full trip report below).
We see that countries change, cities change, and people change. Visit Kabul today and most women will be fully covered in chadri (burqa) and carefully manicured gardens and tree-lined boulevards have been replaced with dirt and debris. The Darul Aman Palace is ridden with bullet holes and is in a state of utter disrepair. But there is still beauty, like in the Garden of Babur, pictured below.
As the U.S. prepares to pull more troops from Afghanistan, we’re left with the same Afghanistan dilemma I wrote about in 2013.
Afghanistan is on my mind today. Will it ever be beautiful again? Or it is beautiful now, just in a very different way than the 1920s?
Read more of my Saudi Arabia + Afghanistan Trip Report–
- Introduction: A Journey to Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan
- How to Obtain a Saudi Arabian Transit Visa
- New York JFK to Jeddah in Saudia Economy Class
- Review: Park Hyatt Jeddah
- Pictures from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Jeddah to Dubai in Saudia Economy Class
- Dubai to Kabul on Ariana Afghan Airlines
- Arrival in Afghanistan
- The Panjshir Valley of Afghanistan
- My Hotel, er Compound, in Kabul, Afghanistan
- Kabul – TV Tower Hill and Darul Aman Palace
- Kabul – National Museum of Afghanistan
- Kabul – Gardens of Babur and Kart-e Sakhi Mosque
- Kabul – The Green Zone and British Cemetery
- Kabul International Airport and Departing Afghanistan
- The Afghanistan Dilemma
- Kabul to Dubai on flydubai
- Dubai to New York via Jeddah in Saudia Economy Class
I hadn’t yet read your posts from the Afghanistan trip, and I really look forward to doing so.
In regards to this, I hope people are learning the lessons that are to be found here. We don’t have to love islamism, imperalism, or communism. In fact, what if we tried looking at society structures that benefit human freedom while harming as few as possible.
The Left’s embrace of Islam is as terrifying as it is paradoxical, and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be doing it if Middle Eastern men had, say, Southeast Asian features. Take from that what you will.
Islam in and of itself isn’t the issue, religious fundamentalism is. You find nutjobs of various degrees all of the world in every country. To many, the religious Christian right in the US isn’t exactly doing America any favors.
Also, hilarious about your comment regarding the features of Middle Eastern men, since those same features lead to quite a bit of religious profiling in the western world.
Oh no, islam is the problem. The culture coming out of islam creates horrible, oppressed lives everywhere islam spreads to. We don’t have to yell “omg what about that time someone did something”. We are allowed to look at one thing and talk about it like adults.
Anyone willing to defend islam needs to be okay with domestic violence, killings of LGBTQ+, and anti-intellectualism. You’re obviously free to do that, but don’t try to claim you’re for equal rights while defending islam,
Well put.
I take it you are for pedophilia and rape. Happens a lot in the church.
If you are a Christian today you encourage or want to participate in raping in children and women.
Just using your extremist logic
“Anyone willing to defend islam needs to be okay with domestic violence, killings of LGBTQ+, and anti-intellectualism”
Which also happens within many Christian communities, especially in the US.
“The culture coming out of islam creates horrible, oppressed lives everywhere islam spreads to.”
No, that is the culture of the country. Just as some Christian countries are more open and progressive while others are more conservative.
And we should deal with that, too. Islam is still a terrible religion that fosters and top-to-bottom inhuman culture.
Regardless which slight-of-hand tactics you try to use to divert attention, mind you.
Thanks for this Matthew. This kind of post is what differentiates you from everyone else (the other travel sites).
Religious nutjobs ruin everything.
They ruin cultures, countries, lives and people. I am talking of all religions here.
All the dumbfuxks that have a problem with Muslim religion today should take it up with your daddy and granddaddy who probably fanned the fundamentalism in that religion back in the day. White man screws up in epic proportions once again.
We won cold war and kept fighting this lukewarm war since. Incidentally when there was the communist block the capitalism had a heart since they wanted to stand apart from cold communism. Now its just as cold itself.
So, now we’re approaching 6 years since your post about the Afghanistan Dilemma. As you noted, we’re no closer to a lasting peace in Afghanistan now, than we were then. Thus, how much longer are we supposed to stay there? 10, 20, 50, 100 years? Heck, we’re still in S. Korea, Okinawa, Germany 70+ years later. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for someone else to step up?
It would perforce be good to see the way that the USA has helped to make Afghanistan what it is today. Drumming religious passion to beat the Soviets, then running from the country once the Soviets left. All while supporting the Pakistanis who supported the Taliban.
No question about it.