Afghanistan in Photos (Before US corps turned it into a slaughterhouse)

[ConsAreLiars]

Before fanatic religious fundamentalism was turned into a means to an end and promoted by Big Corps, and after tossing the Brits out, Afghanistan was probably nothing at all like what you might have come to imagine. Before Brzezinski decided to turn it into a killing field, it was just a poor remote country. A very harsh environment. Near the bottom of the list in terms of income, education, urbanization, health stats and all that. The economy was basically subsistence oriented and the people mostly lived in small isolated villages since the land would only support small numbers.

The infrastructure that made survival under these conditions possible had evolved over centuries, mountain canals and even tunnels to distribute and collect the spring waters, horse riding expertise, camel jockeying and goat herding and grain planting skills and all that. But most of all, a strong sense of communal loyalty. An injury to one is an injury to all. You hurt my family, you will pay the price. My neighbor, my village, my clan, my tribe, my language group, my religion. If not today, then tomorrow. For as long as I am willing to believe I can claim any bit of honor, decency or self respect.

And, as a corollary, if you are an outsider who does no harm, who brings something, you would be treated as a fellow human being. A guest, and a welcome one. Before Brzezinski, Afghanistan was no more dominated by fundie hate mongers than Turkey or Iran or most other countries. It was tribal, the people were uneducated, it was backward by any measure, but the people were far less xenophobic than Lou Dobbs or John McCain. Compared to them and Saudi Arabia, it was enlightened.

So, after all that prelude, take a look.
http://avalon.unomaha.edu/afghan/afghanistan/A1.HTM
Hit the "next" link for more.

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Beautiful photographs, Cons.

I've always had an affinity for Afghanistan. I would like to have visited sometime in my life, but it looks like it's not to be. :(

[ConsAreLiars]

2. I had the good fortune to travel a bit when I was able.

I had the good fortune to travel a bit when I was able. I can't pick the "best" experience, they all enriched me in some way. And I would find bringing war and mass murder to the Finns or Iranians as personally hurtful simply because I knew a number of them personally. But Afghanistan is a a special place, maybe because it was so impoverished and the people so resilient.

In Afghanistan I encountered, for the first time, a world/society/culture that was absolutely alien, absolutely whole, where mere survival was always the in question, yet still accepted me and my marginally scarfed female companion into it. We were an odd part, a bit strange, but not anything less than human. And treated as such.

During a rally to try to keep the US war machine from turning its arsenal on Afghanistan I listened to an Afghan woman speak, not only of her love of her country and her hope that her people would not become "casualties," but of the beauty of the land. My two visits were in late summer,n when everything had turned dry, so I wasn't sure what the hell she was talking about. But those pix did help me see a bit more than my travels revealed.

Those photos tell a lot more than recent hate mongering headlines. If asked to name the people I most admired, most would be badly flawed or damaged, but among them would be the people of that battered land.

(edit, as usual, because typing sucks)

[Skittles]

3. I remember pics in National Geographic decades ago

I remember thinking back then that Afghanistan had tons of wild, untamed beauty

[ConsAreLiars]

4. kick (nt)

[JeffR]

5. K & R

Some amazing photos. Thanks for the link.

[ConsAreLiars]

6. Thanks JeffR. I hope these photos help people get some sense of the crimes done to them.

I was there in late summer, when the only color in the landscape was barren brown, and when I heard an Afghan womon speak of here homeland as beautiful I was puzzled. I later found these photos and understood.

[Feron]

7. Thank you for sharing.

Beautiful pictures.

[mahina]

8. I haven't been able to step away from this for an hour.

Incredible, thank you. I've forwarded to many. Astonishing.

Just yesterday I asked a group of us at a political meeting if anyone there understood Afghanistan. One told me we should split it up into three countries, Kurdistan, a Shia and a Sunni nation. I didn't bother to remind him the question was about the other war...I still don't know anyone who understands the layers of complexity there. I hope both of our Dem candidates do.

[ConsAreLiars]

9. Thanks for telling others about the photos.

They tell only a part of the truth, but it a part we aren't seeing.

Another part can seen in the short documentary Taliban Country if you pay special attention to the people and their environment, beyond the simple facts of the narrative.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cl8CKwlAGQ

August 2004
Away from the glare of the media, in the most remote and dangerous parts of Afghanistan, US marines are on a mission to hunt down the Taliban. But in many places their security sweeps are proving counterproductive. More and more villagers are alleging they have been abused by marines. This week's documentary is a disturbing exposé of American actions in Afghanistan. Journalist Carmela Baranowska spent three weeks embedded with the marines. She then returned in secret to document what was really happening. It's a story of prisoners abused and villagers humiliated. This report prompted a US inquiry.

[mahina]

10. And what was that about the marines and the Army

a few weeks back...the marines want to hand Afghanistan over to the Army, and take over the operations in Iraq?

[BlueCollar]

11. kick...n/t

[mdmc]

12. kick