A rebel, artist, and explorer, at the beginning of young Victoria’s journey into Afghanistan in February of 1978, the country – a breath-taking array of mountains, valleys, deserts, and home to a mix of cultures, religions and peoples that traced their origins to some 50,000 years BC – was a mecca for travelers of every ilk.

Ruled by the dictator, Daoud, the Country was seemingly at peace and prospering.

Had Daoud upheld the maxim of his exiled cousin, King Zahir Shah (and that of predecessors) of ‘the right to freedom and dignity for every individual’– two hundred years of Afghanistan’s internal peace might have continued, and Afghanistan retained its position as one of the world’s MUST VISIT cultural and world-wonder destinations to this day.

As it was, the Dictator suppressed democratic freedoms, while playing dice with two ambitious Superpowers -the USSR and USA – eager to find a chink in Afghanistan’s armour.

This is the story of what, in the space of just a few months of Victoria’s visit, happened.

 

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