Afghanistan in the 70s. Afghanistan - how it was (color photos)

Afghanistan is a country bordering the USSR in the south. The length of the border is 2348 kilometers. Russia has historically had good relations with Afghanistan. The southern neighbor was the first in the world to recognize Soviet Russia, and in May 1919 our leadership announced its readiness to exchange embassies with Afghanistan. In Kabul, on February 28, 1921, a Soviet-Afghan friendly treaty was signed, which was the first equal treaty between Afghanistan and a great power. On June 24, 1931, Afghanistan and the USSR signed an agreement on neutrality and mutual non-aggression, which was extended four times, each time for 10 years. The last signing of this agreement took place in December 1975. Subsequently, especially in the 50s, at the request of the Afghan leaders, power plants, irrigation complexes, a bakery, a house-building plant and other facilities were built by Soviet specialists on the territory of a friendly state. Through joint efforts, a highway was built through the Salang Pass, linking the northern provinces of the country with Kabul. Military cooperation between Afghanistan and Russia also has a long history. For example, the victory of the Afghan people in the Anglo-Afghan war was largely facilitated by the recognition on March 27, 1919 of the sovereignty of Afghanistan by young Soviet Russia and the defeat of the British interventionists in the Trans-Caspian Territory by the Red Army, also Russia, in the form of gratuitous aid, transferred to Afghanistan a million rubles in gold, small arms, ammunition and several combat aircraft. In 1924, the USSR again provided military assistance to Afghanistan, supplying it with small arms and aircraft, and organizing personnel training for the Afghan army in Tashkent. Soviet-Afghan military cooperation has been carried out on a regular basis since 1956, after the signing of an appropriate bilateral agreement. The Ministry of Defense of the USSR was entrusted with the task of training national people's personnel, and since 1972, of sending up to 100 Soviet military consultants and specialists to the Afghan armed forces. In May 1978, an intergovernmental agreement was signed on military advisers, whose number was increased to 400 people.

One of the features of Afghanistan is its multinationality: more than 20 peoples belonging to different language groups live here. The largest of the groups are the Afghans (Pashtuns). It has about 9 million people. This is followed by Tajiks (more than 4 million), Uzbeks (1.5 million), Hazaras (1.4 million), Turkmens (more than 1.1 million), and others. In the second half of the 20th century, a difficult situation developed in Afghanistan. At that time, the economic situation in the country remained extremely difficult. This caused an increase in anti-government sentiment, especially among the youth and the emerging national bourgeoisie, which in turn led to the creation of various opposition parties and groups that dragged its people into a series of government conspiracies, coup d'état and eventually plunged them into the abyss civil war which further aggravated the economic situation. Even before the start of the civil war, Afghanistan was among the most backward countries in the world in terms of economic potential, ranking 108th out of 120 developing countries in terms of national income per capita ($160 per year). The country's industry accounted for 23% of the gross national product, agriculture - 58%. In the fifties, Afghanistan maneuvered in foreign policy between the USSR and the USA. Because of conflict situation between Pakistan and Afghanistan over the Pashtun areas, the United States gradually stopped its economic assistance to Afghanistan. At the same time, the USSR completely took the side of Afghanistan on the issue of its territorial claims.

Thanks to the economic support of the United States and the USSR, a road network was built in Afghanistan. The Soviet Union rebuilt both axes Kushka - Herat - Kandahar and Termez - Mazar-i-Sharif - Kabul - Jalalabad, to the Pakistani border (with concrete pavement for loads up to 60 tons), and the United States built the Kabul - Kandahar line.

Another feature of the country was its internal political instability. In January 1965, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan was illegally formed in Afghanistan under the leadership of Nur Mohammed Taraki and with the name Khalq (people). In 1967, the party split into two parts Khalq and Parcham (banner). The pro-Soviet Parcham faction was led by the son of an Afghan military general, Babrak Karmal. June 17, 1973 The monarchy was abolished: a coup d'état was carried out by Muhammad Daoud Khan, the king's cousin. April 27, 1978 Daoud was overthrown in a military putsch led by factions of the Communist Party, united under the name "Afghan People's Democratic Party". Daoud and 30 members of his family were executed. As a result of this "April Revolution", the communist Taraki became president. Babrak Karmal became Vice President.

In the same year, both factions split again. Babrak Karmal was sent as ambassador to Czechoslovakia. Taraki received economic and financial assistance from the USSR. Thousands of Soviet advisers arrived in Afghanistan. The communist government wanted to rapidly transform Afghanistan into a modern socialist state. Decrees carried out land, social and educational reforms. But this accelerated program was not implemented. Neither the Khalq faction nor the Parcham faction succeeded in establishing a base among the believing Muslim population. Party members, along with sympathizers, made up less than half a percent of the Afghan population. In the spring of 1979, "Free Nuristan" was proclaimed, and in August the Islamic Khazarjat arose with its army - the "Union of Islamic Warriors". In April 1979, one year after the April Revolution, an uprising against the communist regime began simultaneously in all provinces, as a result of which many parts of the country were under full control rebels who began to establish their own authorities in the form of "Islamic committees". The fortified armed formations of the opposition went on the offensive in the cities of Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad, and Khost. In July, attempts were repeatedly made to raise a mutiny in Kabul and its environs, to seize the capital's airfield. In fact, in 1978 and 1979 a real civil war was raging in the country. Moreover, none of the parties could count on a quick victory without significant outside help. Under these conditions, the ruling circles, despite their frequent change, most of all counted on help from Soviet Union. Back in December 1978, in Moscow, an agreement on friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation was concluded between the USSR and the DRA, which allowed the Afghan government to apply to the USSR with a request to send troops into the country and which then became the legal basis for this. The question of the introduction of Soviet troops into Afghanistan was raised even under the Taraki government in the spring and summer of 1979, which thus sought to ensure its security and increase the effectiveness of the fight against the rebels.

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Afghanistan is a state in the Middle East and one of the poorest countries in the world. The first people appeared on the territory of Afghanistan at least 5000 years ago. This is a country with an ancient history.

Today we will go back in time, 50 years ago, and see how Afghanistan lived in the middle of the 20th century. When looking at these photos, keep in mind that what The average life expectancy of Afghans in 1960 was only 31 years.

Boys, men, women, some barefoot. At a market in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 1964. (Photo by AP Photo):

Traders on a busy street in Kabul, Afghanistan, November 1961. (Photo by AP Photo | Henry S. Bradsher):

On the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan, November 1961. (Photo by AP Photo | Henry Burroughs):

A motorcade during a visit to Kabul by the 34th US President David Eisenhower, Afghanistan, December 9, 1959. He came to meet the King of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, to discuss influence in the region. (Photo by Thomas J. O "Halloran, LOC):

Afghans stand along the route of the column of the American President Eisenhower, Kabul, Afghanistan, December 9, 1959. (Photo by AP Photo):

American President Eisenhower was met not only by residents, but also by artists. Kabul, Afghanistan, December 9, 1959. (Photo by AP Photo):

A fruit and nut vendor in Kabul, November 1961. (Photo by AP Photo | Henry S. Bradsher):

Kabulians. November 1961 (Photo by AP Photo | Henry Burroughs):

A carriage with passengers is moving along mountainous roads, November 1959. (Photo by Robert P. Martin, LOC):

A Russian truck at the only car chassis factory in Kabul. (Photo by AFP | Getty Images):

An electric locomotive with trolleys leaves the Karkar coal mine. (Photo by AFP | Getty Images):

A caravan of mules and camels en route to Kabul, October 8, 1949. (Photo by AP Photo | Max Desfor):

King of Afghanistan Mohammed Zahir Shah and US President John F. Kennedy in a car. True, this is not in Afghanistan, but in Washington, on the way to the White House, September 8, 1963. (Photo by AFP | AFP | Getty Images):

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (wearing a black hat) arrives in Kabul on December 15, 1955. (Photo by AP Photo):

Streets of Kabul in November 1966. (Photo by AP Photo):

Kabul, Afghanistan, November 1961. (Photo by AP Photo | Henry Burroughs):

The Taj Beck Palace on the southwestern outskirts of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on a hill that is clearly visible from all sides, October 8, 1949. (Photo by AP Photo | Max Desfor):

Today it is an abandoned building, Kabul, 2006. (Photo by Claude Croteau):

Panoramic view of Kabul with new and old buildings. At the top of the hill you can see the mausoleum in which King Mohammed Zahir Shah is buried. (Photo by AP Photo):

An Afghan with camels and donkeys in the mountains of Afghanistan, November 1959. (Photo by Robert P. Martin, LOC):

King of Afghanistan Mohammed Zahir Shah rides in a limousine along the main road of Kabul, 1968. (Photo by AP Photo | Handout, The Family of the King of Afghansitan):

Afghan boys playing with kites, 1959 (Photo by Robert P. Martin, LOC):

Fruit and nut vendors at a market in Kabul, November 1961. (Photo by AP Photo | Henry S. Bradsher):

Streets of Kabul, 1951 Women are seen wearing the traditional burqa and Persian slippers. (Photo by AP Photo):

One of the new mosques built in the suburbs of Kabul, November 1961. (Photo by AP Photo | Henry S. Bradsher):

Medical students in Kabul with a teacher (right), 1962. Also see the articles "", "", "". (Photo by AFP | Getty Images):

Exactly 30 years ago, at the end of July 1986, Mikhail Gorbachev announced the imminent withdrawal of six regiments of the 40th Army from Afghanistan, and there were disputes in the government about whether it was necessary to completely withdraw troops from the DRA. By that time, the Soviet troops had been fighting in Afghanistan for almost 7 years, without achieving any particular results, and the decision to withdraw the troops was made - more than two years later, the last Soviet soldier left the Afghan land.

So, in this post, we will look at exactly how the war in Afghanistan went, what the conscientious soldiers and their opponents, the Mujahideen, looked like. Under the cut - a lot of color photos.

02. And it all started like this - the entry of the so-called "Limited Contingent" of Soviet troops into Afghanistan began on the eve of the new year, 1980 - December 25, 1979. They introduced into Afghanistan mainly motorized rifle formations, tank units, artillery and landing forces. Also, aviation units were introduced into Afghanistan, later attached to the 40th Army as an Air Force.

It was assumed that there would be no large-scale hostilities, and the troops of the 40th Army would simply guard important strategic and industrial facilities in the country, helping the pro-communist government of Afghanistan. However, the troops of the USSR quickly became involved in hostilities, providing support to the government forces of the DRA, which led to an escalation of the conflict - as the enemy, in turn, also strengthened his ranks.

In the photo - Soviet armored personnel carriers in the mountainous region of Afghanistan, local residents with their faces covered with a veil pass by.

03. Very soon it became clear that the skills of the "classic war", which were trained by the troops of the USSR, are not suitable in Afghanistan - this was facilitated by the mountainous terrain of the country, and the tactics of "guerrilla warfare" imposed by the Mujahideen - they appeared as if from nowhere, inflicted point and very painful blows and disappeared without a trace in the mountains and gorges. The formidable tanks and infantry fighting vehicles of the Soviet troops were practically useless in the mountains - neither the tank nor the infantry fighting vehicles could climb the steep slope, and their guns often simply could not hit targets on the tops of the mountains - the angle did not allow.

04. The Soviet command began to adopt the tactics of the Mujahideen - attacks by small strike groups, ambushes on supply caravans, thorough reconnaissance of the surrounding area to find the best paths, and interaction with the local population. Approximately by 1980-81, the image and style of the Afghan war had taken shape - checkpoints on the roads, small operations in the highlands carried out by helicopter pilots and airborne units, blocking and destroying "rebellious" villages, ambushes.

In the photo - one of the soldiers photographs camouflaged firing positions on the flat terrain.

05. Snapshot of the beginning of the eighties - the T-62 tank took up the dominant height and covers the advance of the column of "fillers" - as fuel trucks were called in Afghanistan. The tank looks rather shabby - apparently, it has been participating in hostilities for quite some time. The gun is pointed towards the mountains and "green" - a small strip of vegetation in which an ambush of the Mujahideen can hide.

06. The Afghans called the Soviet troops "shuravi", which is translated from the Dari language as "Soviet", and the Soviet soldiers called their opponents "dushmans" (which is translated from the same Dari language as "enemies"), or abbreviated "spirits". All the movements of the Shuravi along the roads of the country quickly became known to the dushmans, since they received all the information directly from the local residents - this made it easy to set up ambushes, mine roads, and so on - by the way, Afghanistan is still full of mined areas; mines were laid by both the Mujahideen and Soviet soldiers.

07. The classic "Afghan" form is very recognizable thanks to the wide-brimmed panama, which protected from the sun better than the classic cap of those years used in the SA. Even as a headdress, sand-colored caps were often used. Interestingly, such panama hats in the Soviet army were not at all an innovation of those years; Soviet soldiers wore very similar headdresses during the battles at Khalkhin Gol in 1939.

08. According to the participants in the Afghan war, there were often problems with the uniform - one unit could wear kits different color and style, and the dead soldiers, whose bodies were sent home, were often dressed in the old uniform of the 40s model in order to “save” one set of full dress uniform in the warehouse ...

Soldiers often replaced standard boots and boots with sneakers - they were more comfortable in hot climates, and also contributed to less injury as a result of a mine explosion. Sneakers were bought in Afghan cities at the "dukan" bazaars, and also occasionally beat off Mujahideen supplies from the caravans.

09. The classic form "Afghan" (with many patch pockets), known to us from films about Afghanistan, appeared already in the second half of the 80s. It was of several types - there were special suits for tankers, for motorized riflemen, landing jump suits "mabuta" and several others. By the color of the uniform, it was easy to determine how much time a person spent in Afghanistan - since over time, the yellow “hebeshka” faded under the sun to almost white.

10. There were also winter sets of "Afghan" uniforms - they were used in the cold months (it is far from always hot in Afghanistan), as well as in high-altitude regions with a cold climate. In fact, an ordinary insulated jacket with 4 patch pockets.

11. And this is what the Mujahideen looked like - as a rule, their clothes were very eclectic and mixed traditional Afghan outfits, trophy uniforms and ordinary civilian clothes of those years like Adidas sweatpants and Puma sneakers. Open shoes like modern slippers were also very popular.

12. Ahmad Shah Masoud, a field commander, one of the main opponents of the Soviet troops, is pictured surrounded by his Mujahideen - it is clear that the clothes of the soldiers are very different, the uncle to the right of Masoud is wearing a clearly trophy hat with earflaps from the winter set Soviet form.

Of the headdresses among the Afghans, in addition to the turban, hats called "pakol" were also popular - something like a kind of beret made of fine wool. In the photo, the pakol is on the head of Ahmad Shah himself, as well as some of his soldiers.

13. And these are Afghan refugees. Outwardly, they rarely differed from the Mujahideen, which is why they often died - in total, at least 1 million civilians died during the Afghan war, the largest casualties occurred as a result of bombing or artillery attacks on villages.

14. A Soviet tanker looks at a village destroyed during the fighting near the Salang Pass. If the village was considered "rebellious" - it could be wiped off the face of the earth along with everyone who was inside the perimeter...

15. A significant place in the Afghan war was occupied by aviation, especially small ones - with the help of helicopters, the main part of the cargo was delivered, and military operations and cover for convoys were also carried out. In the photo - a helicopter of the Afghan government army, covering the Soviet convoy.

16. And this is an Afghan helicopter shot down by the Mujahideen in the province of Zabul - this happened in 1990, after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

17. Soviet soldiers who were captured - military uniforms were taken away from the prisoners, dressed in Afghan outfits. By the way, some of the prisoners converted to Islam and wished to stay in Afghanistan - I once read the stories of such people who now live in Afghanistan.

18. Checkpoint in Kabul, winter 1989, shortly before the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The photo shows a typical Kabul landscape with snow-capped mountain peaks near the horizon.

19. Tanks on the Afghan roads.

20. Soviet plane comes in to land at the airport in Kabul.

21. Military equipment.

22. Beginning of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

23. Shepherd looks at the outgoing column of Soviet troops.

Here are some photos. Was this war necessary, do you think? I don't think so.

As an officially neutral country, Afghanistan was under the influence of the United States and the Soviet Union during the cold war, accepting Soviet equipment and weapons, as well as financial assistance from the United States. This time, the country was in for a short, relatively peaceful period, when modern buildings were built in Kabul along with the older traditional structures that existed. The burqa became optional. The country was on its way to building a more open, prosperous society.

But progress stopped in 1970 with a series of bloody coups, invasions and civil war that continues to this day. Almost all the steps taken towards modernization in the 50s and 60s turned back. As you look at these images, remember that the average life expectancy for Afghans born in the 1960s was 31 years. Therefore, most of the photographed people, most likely, remained only in the pictures.

The photo was taken in 1962 at the Faculty of Medicine in Kabul. Two Afghan female students listen to a professor (on the right) while examining a plaster model in the form of a part human body. (AFP/Getty Images).

Men stroll past roadside vendors as a painted truck makes its way through a busy street in Kabul. Afghanistan, November 1961. (AP Photo / Henry S. Bradsher).

New modern (construction completed in 1966) government printing house in Kabul. Most of the equipment was delivered from West Germany. (AP Photo).

Street scene in Kabul. Afghanistan, November 961. (AP Photo/Henry Burroughs).

Afghan boys, men and women (some of them barefoot) shop at a market in Kabul. Afghanistan in May 1964. (AP Photo).

The cortege that accompanied President Eisenhower's visit to Kabul. Afghanistan, December 9, 1959. The 45-year-old ruler of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Shah, met with Eisenhower to discuss Soviet influence in the region and increased American aid to Afghanistan. (Thomas J. O "Halloran, LOC).

Afghan residents lined up along US President Dwight Eisenhower's route in Kabul. Afghanistan, December 9, 1959. (AP Photo).

Dancers perform on the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan on December 9, 1959, as President Eisenhower arrives from Karachi. After a five-hour stay in Kabul, he flew to New Delhi. (AP Photo).

The Afghan Air Force is represented by MiG-15 fighters and Mikoyan-Gurevich Il-28 bombers in Kabul, Afghanistan. During the visit of US President Dwight Eisenhower in December 1959. (Thomas J. O "Halloran, LOC).

Shop windows of fruits and nuts in Kabul. November 1961 (AP Photo / Henry S. Bradsher).

Children on the streets of Kabul in November 1961. (AP Photo/Henry Burroughs).

A modern traffic light contrasts with burqa-clad women sitting on a Kabul street corner with their backs to their men, on May 25, 1964. (AP Photo/Henry Burroughs).

Afghan women, men and children in traditional dress ride a cart through an arid, rocky landscape. November, 1959 (Robert P. Martin, L.O.C.).

An Afghan worker checks a Russian-made truck in Kabul at the Janagalak factory on an unspecified date. This only car chassis factory is located in the city center. It was looted during the reign of the Afghan Mujahideen from 1992 to 1996. (AFP/Getty Images).

The entrance to the Karkar coal mine, about 12 km northeast of the provincial town of Pulikhumri, in the northern province of Baghlan. The Karkar coal deposit once met the needs of Kabul. (AFP/Getty Images).

A caravan of mules and camels crosses the high, winding Lataband Pass in Afghanistan on its way to Kabul, October 8, 1949. (AP Photo / Max Desfor).

King (Padishah) of Afghanistan Mohammad Zahir Shah is negotiating with US President John F. Kennedy in a car that took them to the White House. In Washington, D.C., September 8, 1963. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images).

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (wearing a black hat) and Marshal Nikolai Bulganin inspect an honor guard of Afghans in old German uniforms upon their arrival in Kabul. Afghanistan, December 15, 1955.
On the left is Afghan Prime Minister Mohammed Daoud Sardar Khan, and in the back wearing a cap is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Naeem. (AP Photo).

Street scene in Kabul. November 1966 (AP Photo).

This photo shows the Kabul-Herat Highway, which linked the Afghan capital to the Iranian border near the city of Mashhad. Built at the beginning of the second half of the 20th century, the highway was practically destroyed during the decades of war. (AFP/Getty Images).

Kabul, Afghanistan, November 1961. (AP Photo/Henry Burroughs.

Royal Palace Taj Beck (Tajbeg) Amanullah Khan in Kabul. He was photographed on October 8, 1949.
Amanullah Khan was the king of Afghanistan in the early 20th century who was trying to modernize his country. He wanted to reform and eliminate many age-old customs and habits. His ambitious plans and ideas were based on what he saw during his visit to Europe. Click for a modern view of the palace, which is now abandoned and ruined. (AP Photo / Max Desfor).

Panoramic view covering old and new buildings in Kabul in August 1969. The Kabul River flows through the city and is visible to the right of the center. In the background, on top of a hill, stands the mausoleum of the late King Mohammed Nadir Shah. (AP Photo).

The reforms of liberal Afghan Prime Minister Daoud almost 60 years ago gave the country a semblance of a European path of development. However, modernization in a poor and feudal country gave rise to a confrontation between the radical left proletariat, led by the intelligentsia, and the dark mass of no less radical Islamic "conservatives".

Some semblance of modernization in Afghanistan began back in the 1910s and 20s. It was customary to call the representatives of the reformers "Young Afghans". They consisted of a "progressive" part royal family, officers and the emerging bourgeoisie. Feudal Afghanistan was being updated at a slow pace for about 30 years. Until a member of the royal family, Prime Minister Daoud, intensified the process in the 1950s. Following the example of many leaders who then or later practiced modernization in the backward Third World, he began to blindly copy the West.

The Norwegian writer Osne Seierstad, in her nonfiction book The Bookseller from Kabul, described these reforms as follows:

“In 1956, Prince Daoud shocked the Independence Day crowd by showing his wife in public without a veil. The prince persuaded his brother to order his wife to do the same and asked the ministers to throw away their wives' veils. The very next day, women in long coats, dark sunglasses and small hats could be seen on the streets of Kabul. Previously, these women went completely covered. The first to put on the burqa, the upper classes were the first to refuse it. She turned into a sign of being chosen among the poor, many housekeepers and maids were given silk veils of their owners as unnecessary.

(Young Afghan, padishah Zahir, who ruled the country for 40 years - from 1933 to 1973)

First, women belonging to the Pashtun majority covered themselves, then other ethnic groups followed their example. But Prince Daoud wanted to completely rid Afghanistan of the veil. In 1961, a law was passed prohibiting the wearing of the veil by civil servants. They were advised to wear western style. It took a few more years before everyone began to obey the law, but in the 1970s it was almost impossible to find a teacher or a secretary who would not be dressed in a blouse and skirt, and the men wore a suit.

Tourism, once one of Afghanistan's most important sources of income, is long gone. The road our buddies are on was once called the "hippie trail." Advanced and not so young people came here in search of beautiful views, primordial simplicity of morals and the best hashish in the world. Or opium - for the more sophisticated. In the 1960s and 1970s, thousands of “flower children” visited this mountainous country, rented old “frets” and set off. Women also traveled alone through the mountains.”

(Meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Afghanistan, late 1950s; at the top of the photo - parking at the Kabul hotel, 1967)

Along with the “personal liberation”, two universities opened in Afghanistan - Kabul University and the Polytechnic Institute, which even had teachers from Europe, and learning programs were copied from the Soviet and French high school. The army was reformed according to the Western model. Dozens of businesses have sprung up. Several newspapers were opened in the country - it was around these publications that political circles of various directions began to form: from the extreme and moderate left to the liberals of the "Austrian school". However, the left prevailed.

(Classes at Kabul University, early 1960s)

But even after 10 years of reforms, Afghanistan was a backward, semi-feudal country. Only 70,000-100,000 people benefited from liberalization, and that was mainly in Kabul and northern, Uzbek-Tajik Afghanistan. The country was in the social sense the following:

“In 1964, 40,000 landowners, who owned more than 20 hectares of land, owned 73% of the cultivated land, and 580,000 peasant families only 27%. The economy developed poorly. Afghanistan had almost no industry of its own. Different parts of the state did not have stable economic ties. There were no railways, or even roads that would connect all parts of the country. The pace of economic growth slowed down compared to the early 1960s. In the country in 1967, there were 90 factory enterprises, which employed only 31 thousand people, which accounted for only 0.76% of the population, 80 thousand worked in the construction industry and 30 thousand in communications and transport enterprises. Meanwhile, up to 300,000 people were employed in small-scale and handicraft industry.”

However, feudalism did not prevent the aforementioned 70-100 thousand Afghans from living according to Western standards. Officers and officials, the intelligentsia and the bourgeoisie went to cinemas and theaters (there were 4 of the latter in Kabul), went on excursions to Europe (in 1970 there were 15,000 of them). The children of the "European Afghans" went to the prestigious American International School.

(Afghan hipster, late 1960s)

Further, the story went on a knurled rut. Like in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, or in China at the same time (or like in Angola in the 1970s, and other backward countries that began to modernize an archaic society), liberalism provoked a reaction from two sides - leftists and conservatives. The former were dissatisfied with the slow pace of reforms and their "direction", the latter believed that reforms were not needed at all, but whip and vodka (and in the Afghan version - opium) were needed. In fact, Daud became the Afghan Stolypin, and by the end of his management of reforms, he was like a bone in the throat for all social strata (by the way, Daud hanged and tortured "troublemakers" no less than Stolypin).

(Demonstration of Afghan Bolsheviks, late 1960s)

By 1978, Afghan society was already like this:

“Industrial workers, who by 1978 numbered 334 thousand people, held a number of large strikes in the 1960s and 70s and achieved the adoption by the government of M. Daoud of a number of laws regulating labor Relations(7.5-hour working day, the right to vacation and receive pensions). Over the years of M. Daud's reign, more than a hundred new factories and plants were built. The number of the working class increased due to the forced withdrawal of landless peasants from the countryside. But the process of proletarianization of the masses covered only the Kabul region and the Tajik-Uzbek north of the country. In the same areas, a special category of defeudalized peasants became widespread - permanent agricultural workers, of which there were 269 thousand people. In addition to the factory proletariat in Afghanistan, there were about 150,000 workers in the mining industry, energy, construction, and transport. All workers were also interested in eliminating the remnants of feudalism, further democratization and industrialization, but they could only influence events in Kabul and in the industrial centers in the north of the country. Special mention should be made of the national industrial bourgeoisie, which was also interested in expanding the home market by limiting the landowner and developing capitalism in the countryside.

Thus, if we proceed from the fact that in 1978 in Afghanistan 3638 thousand people were employed in the sphere of material production, then the share of the capitalist sector accounted for about 750 thousand people, or more than 20% of the total, and the share of the backward semi-feudal sector , which included peasants, nomads, artisans and landowners, about 80%, i.e. the rest of the population who took part in the production of material goods.

(Afghan Prince Kuropatkin inspects brave young soldiers, late 1960s)

This ratio of 20:80, probably, should be recognized as a classic for backward-modernizing countries, which are first facing the bourgeois, and then the socialist revolution. For example, in Russia in 1917, the peasants and other "backward" population was also at least 80%.

Further in Afghanistan, everything also went along the path along which in social relations passed the same Russia. The bourgeois-democratic coup of 1978, socialist republic Babrak Karmal, the offensive of the Stalinist reaction in the form of the Taliban, the complete bankruptcy of the country and its occupation by NATO forces.

And now we just have to look at the shabby pictures of reformist Afghanistan in the 1950s and 60s - about the same Soviet people looked at miraculously surviving photographs of pre-revolutionary "pastoral" Russia.

Photographs of Afghanistan in the 1950s and 1960s. Collected by Muhammad Qayumi: