

Helmand's Golden Age - yctay
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_8529/index.html

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RBScott
Actually the golden age for Helmand was the 1970s after the land was well
developed and the farmers were trained into modern agriculture. Most of the
land in central Helmand was developed from previously un-farmed desert
escarpment and at least 30% of the farmers were settled nomads with no
experience with irrigation farming under harsh desert conditions. The 70s
brought in high yielding wheat with fertilizers and an explosion of cotton
production to the point the Brits decided to build a second cotton gin in
Girishk to try to keep up with the rapidly expanding production.

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scottlocklin
Read "the Road to Oxiana" -Afghanistan used to be one of the most modern
places in the middle east. That's why the communist ideologists figured they
could take over.

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RBScott
With the overthrow of the King in the summer of 73, Daoud set up a government
that was a combination of nationalists, like himself, and communists
(University people mostly trained in the US)which included many army people
trained in the USSR. But by the late 70s, Daoud began eliminating the
communists from his government, made them nervous so the army communists
staged the coup with the university people in the key government positions.

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jonah
My father, uncle, and grandparents lived in the region around that time. (Late
50s, early 60s). They were in Tehran and then in Lahore (Pakistan). They loved
it - the culture and people especially. Glenn Foster's photos and films are
reminiscent of my family's. Sitting and watching my grandfather's 8mm home
movies was made more poignant when considering the direction the area is
taking since then.

