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:

Photo by Justin King

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Tim is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he's covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980's.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from traditional mainstream news agencies like The Associated Press and Electronic Media Association; he also holds awards from the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs; and was presented with a 'Good Neighbor Award' for his reporting, by the The Red Cross.

Tim's years as a Human Rights reporter have taken on many dimensions; he has rallied for a long list of cultures and populations and continues to every day, with a strong and direct concentration on the 2009 Genocide of Tamil Hindus and Christians in Sri Lanka. As a result of his long list of reports exposing war crimes against Tamil people, Tim was invited to be the keynote speaker at the FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America) Conference in Baltimore, in July 2012. This is the largest annual gathering of North American Tamils; Tim addressed more than 3000 people and was presented with a traditional Sri Lanka ‘blessed garland’ and a shawl as per the tradition and custom of Tamil Nadu

In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format designed by Matt Lintz was launched in December, 2005. Serving readers with news from all over the globe, Tim's life is literally encircled by the endless news flow published by Salem-News.com, where more than 100 writers contribute stories from 23+ countries and regions.

Tim specializes in writing about political and military developments worldwide; and maintains that the label 'terrorist' is ill placed in many cases; specifically with the LTTE Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, where it was used as an excuse to slaughter people by the tens of thousands; and in Gaza, where a trapped population lives at the mercy of Israel's destructive military war crime grinder. At the center of all of this, Tim pays extremely close attention to the safety and welfare of journalists worldwide. You can write to Tim at this address: tim@salem-news.com. Visit Tim's Facebook page (facebook.com/TimKing.Reporter)

Americans for a Stronger Israel