Afghanistan in the 50s & 60s

[Beest]

I've said this before somewhere but. I remember a report on the radio where they discussed that the current ultra conservatism in muslim countries was a newer movement that came about in the late '60s ( or so ?) Older people remember when things were much more less restrictive, especially for women, in many parts of the muslim world, as pictured in the OP in Afghanistan.
In the modern rhetoric these counties are often reffered to as stuck in the Dark Ages, when in fact they only Europes Dark Ages and at that same time the muslim world was the cradle of science and learning for the world.

[Griff]

We were talking about this at the salle last night. I was wondering aloud how much impact warring with the West had made (am back to reading The Siege of Vienna) when a guy mentioned two things which probably harmed them more. Good Muslims can't charge interest and instead of giving property to the oldest male heir they traditionally split things up evenly. Specific to Afghanistan, I'd say a lot of the problem was the conflict between communism and liberal democracy exacerbated by isolation.