Afghanistan: The Way It Was

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I remember my mother wearing clothes like this when she went to the record store looking for 45s of her favorite songs. There were little booths where she would listen to records before buying them to play on our high fidelity record player at home. But this isn't a record store in downtown San Francisco, this is a record store in downtown Kabul in the 1960s.

CSUEB's former president Mohammad Qayoumi had this to say about the Kabul of his childhood

‘Given the images people see on TV, many conclude Afghanistan never made it out of the Middle Ages. But that is not the Afghanistan I remember. I grew up in Kabul in the 1950s and ’60s. Stirred by the fact that news portrayals of the country’s history didn’t mesh with my own memories, I wanted to discover the truth.

‘Remembering Afghanistan’s hopeful past only makes its present misery seem more tragic. But it is important to know that disorder, terrorism, and violence against schools that educate girls are not inevitable. I want to show Afghanistan’s youth of today how their parents and grandparents really lived.’

Here are a few more pictures of "old" Afghanistan.


Biology class at Kabul University.


Kabul University students changing classes. Enrollment doubled in four years.


Student nurses at Maternity Hospital, Kabul

This is the way Afghanistan was. Kabul University thrived, women attended school, and popular culture was not punishable by death. If you'd like to see more pictures of old Afghanistan check out Retronaut.

Do these pictures give you hope for the future of the middle east? Do you think people like President Qayoumi will see old Afghanistan again?