Hello. I came across this article http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2013/01/28/podlich-afghanistan-1960s-photos/5846/ yesterday that shows pictures of Afghanistan from the 1960's, and seem to illustrate a (relatively) progressive, functioning society of the kind we would recognize in the West.
I see compilations like this relatively frequently, and similar ones from Iran during the Shah's day which represent the country as being modernized, relatively tolerant, and not a bad place to live.
My question is, how close to reality are the pictures in these sorts of compilations? Are we seeing the lives of a small, privileged elite that lived in Kabul and/or Tehran? Or were these countries truly dynamic and (again, relatively) progressive places before being 'ruined' by religious extremism and repressive societies?
Of course I know that the Shah and the King of Afghanistan were very repressive themselves, but arguably less so then the regimes that followed them. I'm not very educated about the recent history of these regions so I'm interested to know more.
Well for example Iran under the Shah had less than 50% literacy rates (less for women.) People massively improved their living standards after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran:
A new U.N. report highlights Iran’s significant progress in providing citizens with a long and healthy life, access to education and a decent standard of living. Between 1980 and 2012, Iran’s life expectancy at birth increased by 22.1 years, mean years of schooling increased by 5.7 years, and expected years of schooling increased by 5.7 years. The gross national income per capita also increased by about 48 percent between 1980 and 2012 http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2013/apr/01/un-stats-life-longer-and-healthier-iran
Furhtermore this is what Iran looks like today: http://theotheriran.com/