Photos

Let's take a giant step back in time, to a world that no longer exists, Afghanistan in May, 1973. The country was still ruled by the King, Mohammad Zahir Shah, but only a few weeks later he would be overthrown and Afghanistan slowly started its descent into hell.
At this time Afghanistan was recovering from a long period of drought that had caused misery to thousands of nomads and farmers. But the country was still functioning, there was an administration that could reasonably well handle the crisis (as well as could be expected in a poor country in the developing world). The irrigation systems were functioning, there were forests and huge areas of grassland. And there was a strong optimism about the future. Afghanistan was changing - to the better, everyone believed.
These few weeks I spent in Afghanistan in 1973 (I had been there in 1972 as well) were virtually the last weeks of peace and stability in that country. That journey was an unforgettable experience which changed my outlook on the world forever. I met a country of dignified, proud and tolerant people, very distant from the image Afghanistan has created for itself in recent times.
This picture, which is scanned from a Kodachrome slide and taken with a Canon FT QL, is from the garden of the Hazrat Ali mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif, famous for its white pigeons. In spite of the many years of war, the pigeons are still there, I believe.