Afghanistan in the 1950s and ’60s

Fractured by internal conflict and foreign intervention for centuries, Afghanistan made several tentative steps toward modernization in the mid-20th century. In the 1950s and 1960s, some of the biggest strides were made toward a more liberal and westernized lifestyle, while trying to maintain a respect for more conservative factions. Though officially a neutral nation, Afghanistan was courted and influenced by the US and Soviet Union during the Cold War, accepting Soviet machinery and weapons, and US financial aid. This time was a brief, relatively peaceful era, when modern buildings were constructed in Kabul alongside older traditional mud structures, when burqas became optional for a time, and the country appeared to be on a path toward a more open, prosperous society. Progress was halted in the 1970s, as a series of bloody coups, invasions, and civil wars began, continuing to this day, reversing almost all of the steps toward modernization taken in the 50s and 60s.

When you think of Afghanistan’s history, you probably don’t think of short skirts, nice cars, and liberal 60s styles. Afghanistan in the 1960s was a very different country than the one that exists today.

The Soviets invaded, and Afghanistan was pulled into the war, and following Taliban rule, the country now bears little resemblance to the peaceful and prosperous nation that it was. Major events:

The year begins auspiciously by the signature at New Delhi, India, of a treaty of friendship with India.[1] The treaty provided that each signatory should be able to establish trade agencies in the other’s territory. The treaty would last for five years in the first instance, and at the end of that period it would be terminable at six months’ notice. This friendship with India does not find reflection in Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan. Pakistan feels that Afghanistan is too tolerant of the so-called independent

Pashtunistan movement, which has for its aim the creation of a Pashto-speaking enclave and therefore a new state to be carved out of Pakistan territory. Afghanistan

develops closer relations during the year with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.

The Atlantic/Wikipedia