Afghanistan: Photo Journal is a Flashback to Circa 1970

I have been showing these to people for years and thought I should just publish them so everyone can have an idea what Afghanistan looked like before three decades of war.

Photos of Afghanistan circa 1970: Unknown photographer

(KABUL/SALEM) - When I was in Afghanistan covering the war during the winter of 2006/2007, I heard about a set of photographs that were on the base server at Camp Phoenix, showing Kabul and other parts of this war torn country in a more peaceful time, probably in the late 1960's or early 1970's.

Over the years I have published many photographs from this place, and the contrast is really off the charts. When these photos were taken, Afghanistan was a Communist country and religion was suppressed.

This in the end was not acceptable to the Afghans and by 1979, thinking Afghanistan was going to shed its Communist politics, the Soviet Union invaded, to "aid" the Kabul government and help fight "insurgents" who we know as the Mujahideen. This is a word that simply means religious fighter. In a historical context, the term generally refers to the tribal Afghans who defeated one of the world's greatest superpowers.

It was an amazing military accomplishment that took a few million dollars and caused ten years of Hell for the Afghans, but the Soviets who weren't killed in the end retreated for good. They are despised there today.

Today American and other Coalition forces occupy many of the same military bases, buildings included, that were constructed during the Communist years and specifically, during the years of the Soviet invasion.

For those who have served in Afghanistan recently or covered the war, the contrast actually stands out like a sore thumb. The Soviets destroyed the places that are still intact in these photos.

What the Soviets didn't raze, the Taliban saw to; things like the amazing statues carved out of mountainsides. What the Taliban didn't get, needless to say, would receive more damage and destruction from America's war there.

The photos are uploaded on my MySpace page, you can leave comments there and also on this story. There are 354 photographs in total and as far as I know, they essentially never really left Afghanistan. Someone in the U.S. Army took the time to load them onto the base server and a kind sergeant brought them to me on a flashdrive. I have been entertaining people with them ever since, and thought I should just publish them so everyone can have an idea what this place looked like before three decades of war.

Sit back and put your feet up, here is Afghanistan as it appeared many years ago.

The frames below that are my photos from the war, for contrast:

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com

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