Retrospective
I can’t help but compare this:
to this. (From “thruafghaneyes;” note images of disease some may find upsetting.)
I note that post specifically because it’s one of the few that actually has women in the frame. The above photograph is from a Foreign Policy article on Afghanistan (Kabul) in the ’50s and ’60s.
That’s the stark difference of fifty years.
Keep in mind, though, that those are pictures of Kabul, not the rest of Afghanistan. Kabul has always been very much more modern and liberal than the outlying Pashtun regions.
I thought about noting that, actually, except the set of photos from thruafghaneyes was also taken in Kabul.