What is Digg?164 Comments
- fazeman9, on 07/23/2008, -8/+68Dam! They even killed the girls! The one on the left was pretty hot!
- Socram, on 07/22/2008, -4/+48That is far worse than I was expecting. I thought that at least the trees would still be there.
- Kmap, on 07/23/2008, -0/+33Fifty thousand people used to live here. Now it's a ghost town.
- Kornstalx, on 07/23/2008, -3/+28Ain't no trees in Afghanistan.
I know, I'm an Afghani lumberjack, and I ain't never had a job.
/Earnest - cdigioia, on 07/23/2008, -2/+25Afghanistan has been devastated by war, that's the truth and there is no doubt about it.
However, this one picture doesn't prove anything. Every country, including the US, has places that were once beautiful, only to be abandoned and left to turn into vacant lots.
Down from where I grew up, there use to be a beautiful city park 15 years ago. Then, the city built a new park, and demolished the old. The trees couldn't survive without outside irrigation, so they died and were cut down. Through some ineptitude of planning on someone's part, the place is still just a vacant lot, as there are many vacant lots in many cities.
Point is, do a before and after photo and say "OH god, look what's happened to the US!! See what 15 years of have caused!" While just outside of the shot, you see the revitalized downtown.
Afghanistan has been decimated by war, but let's not get carried by thinking this photo proves that, or imparts any substantial information. - ZephyrNinety, on 07/23/2008, -24/+45Twin Towers 1995
http://www.bobbyshred.com/images/wtcnight2.jpg
Twin Towers 2001
http://cnparm.home.texas.net/911/911/GroundZero.jp ...
Not trying to make a connection here but you can take a before and after photo of anything and it can look better or worse. - PopASquatt, on 07/23/2008, -0/+19Don't blame the NATO led operation for this.
The Soviet Union destroyed the country and the United States placed the Mujahideen (Now the Taliban) in power. The Taliban pulled the country back into the dark ages with their radical beliefs and their extreme Muslim views.
The truth is that Afghanistan is actually a fairly successful mission right now.
The Taliban that removed all culture, arts, media, and the rights from women have now been exiled from the government. The Afghan national army has been rebuilt thanks to funding from the US, Germany, Canada and many other NATO nations providing equipment and support. Women are no longer beat in the streets by "religious police" and they can now go to school.
I believe that 63% of Afghans still want the support of the ISAF assistant force as of a 2007 poll conducted by British journalists, I believe anyway.
Thanks to the NATO led operation, these people might one day have everything we take for granted. - blackbeardtron, on 07/23/2008, -1/+20That's what she said.
- Asianwaste, on 07/23/2008, -4/+22Oh please. You sure the Taliban government didn't have anything to do with this within the 40 years?
- poidh, on 07/23/2008, -8/+25Yes that's right. It's ALL OUR FAULT(tm).
Idiot. - tripledjr, on 07/23/2008, -7/+20It has a much better resolution nowadays.
- inactive, on 07/23/2008, -3/+14Yes, because the U.S. and Russia are to blame for everything. Sure, we were involved in the fight for power in Afghanistan but don't fool yourself into thinking that these people weren't fighting before the U.S. and Russia were involved and will stop as soon as the U.S. leaves.
You may want to blame the religious leaders who have a blood thirst for power thus convincing their flock of sheep that they must destroy the other sect of the same religion.
"After becoming a Mujaheddin battleground at the close of the 20th century, little remains of Paghman Gardens save for an Arc de Triomphe style arch. In the summer though, Paghman is popular as a place to go for a break from the city and maybe a picnic. The locality was traditionally the family seat of the Paghman saadat most noted for its famous descendant Idries Shah." - redsox34, on 07/23/2008, -3/+14i had no idea of the magnitude.....
- Crucible1001, on 07/23/2008, -2/+12The soviets are the ones that did this. It was a battleground during the invasion.
Source:
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Paghman-G ...
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Mujaheddi ... - askjeffro, on 07/23/2008, -0/+9"...reflecting the results of 20 years of war in Afghanistan." The article is not trying to say the U.S. is bad, rather its quite CLEARLY stating that 20 years of war have ravaged the nation. In other words war = bad.
- 2ndrookie, on 07/23/2008, -0/+9I miss those guys...
- banmaster, on 07/23/2008, -1/+10Do you sleep all night and work all day?
- arjie, on 07/23/2008, -9/+16Ouch! Afghanistan has lost so much, through the Taliban, the Soviet invasion, and then the American invasion. Horrible stuff, I remember many years ago when we read about the destruction of the Bamyan Buddhas, we were shocked.
- kingjam, on 07/23/2008, -3/+10@dthebear
Dumb Ass...It's people like you that make me hate the blind geeks that are on digg. - freezerburn666, on 07/23/2008, -1/+8grenaaaaaaaaade!!!!
- sisko2k5, on 07/23/2008, -0/+7Wow. That a very powerful before and after. All the hot women are gone.
- ConceptualTrap, on 07/23/2008, -0/+6The magnitude of destruction? Is it so hard to fill in the blanks?
- shiidii, on 07/23/2008, -4/+10So sad, it's amazing how dramatic a nation can change in a matter of decades.
- Asianwaste, on 07/23/2008, -2/+8Afghanistan had its chance to keep what's depicted here and perhaps even thensome. For a brief period in time there was a democratic government. It's just the people of Afghanistan couldn't handle the idea of freedom of religion and equality towards women and assassinated the man that was so close towards making it a reality. This sparked a civil war and they never recovered from it. You ask me the majority of the blame falls on their own lap.
- lazycat, on 07/23/2008, -0/+6You can now easily find mirrors with just a little googling:
Before (1967): http://www.flickr.com/photos/conjecturer/268744474 ...
After (2007): http://www.flickr.com/photos/conjecturer/268744451 ... - uruururr, on 07/23/2008, -2/+7tragic
- banmaster, on 07/23/2008, -1/+6I dunno, look at the US and how its changes in a mere 7 years.
- basevillin, on 07/25/2008, -0/+5Nah he just puts on women's clothing and hangs around in bars.
- spongya77, on 07/23/2008, -0/+5It really is tragic to see how much destruction war brought to Afghanistan.
- Origin415, on 07/23/2008, -0/+5I know some muslim people, guess its my rightful duty to go mess up their garden...
- superfuxxorr, on 07/23/2008, -1/+6We're in danger of losing the battle!
- black27696, on 07/23/2008, -2/+7Exactly. Lets be honest here, taken PURELY at face value we're talking about taking away a GARDEN vs. destroying two huge structures with thousands of people inside. There's a park a half mile from here that they're leveling to make a Rally's.
I love Rally's. - znicket, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4There are some very fertile places in Afghanistan. Lush valleys and whatnot.
- ConceptualTrap, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4Artwithbyte, while I largely agree with you, the US did empower the Taliban by selling them arms to defend against the Soviets during the Cold War. Come the end of the Cold War we just ignored the fact that we armed militant muslims to the teeth and let them take of Afghanistan.
In other words, we might not have started the fire, but we definitely soaked the country in lighter fluid. - arjie, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4The first two photos look nothing like the picture linked. The only thing the third has in common is that it is also a park. If you went up to your sixth grade teacher with 'research' like that, I would hope that she'd flunk you.
- helloyamadotcom, on 07/23/2008, -1/+5Because we know all muslims are hijackers, right? Good job on THAT connection, moron.
- 3amboo, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4i didn't know trees like those could grow in afghanistan
- freezerburn666, on 07/23/2008, -2/+6wtf they are allowed to show leg in the 60s? and is that a blonde chick? i can see so much ankle in this picture i'm getting major wood.
- sporg, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4Mirror?
- rysmith, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4According to The Kite Runner, the Russians burned them down to decrease Afghani morale.
- mediaspree, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4I was hoping for more than one picture.
- Littledevil8701, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4M I R R O R?
- mindfeck, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4pathouston's comment was funny, come on!
- banmaster, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4Just replace "Go Mohammed Go!" with "Go God Go!" and you'd be talking about America.
- Asianwaste, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4A lot of this started when the man who wanted Afghanistan to be a Republic with democractic rights, religious freedoms, and women's rights got assassinated thus sparking a civil war they've never recovered from.
The resulting Soviet invasion and US funded Mujahideen is all a direct result of this. While both the US and Russia aren't with the cleanest hands in this affair, the ultimate responsibility and blame falls within their own lap. What you see before you is a result of a stubborn inability to simply tolerate a woman voting or your neighbor choosing to follow a different god. - znicket, on 07/23/2008, -2/+5Islamic fundamentalism is fascistic.
- inactive, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4The hijackers were TRAINED in Afghanistan. By the Taliban. Who supported al qaeda
- cdigioia, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3No, it was just an example, maybe a poorly chosen one.
And as I said, it's pretty established that all of Afghanistan has been devastated - I was just arguing aginst people using this picture as any sort of proof/enlightenment. - arjie, on 07/23/2008, -3/+6I knew the Taliban alone were responsible for the destruction of the Buddhas at Bamyan, but surely you don't believe that the other two forces managed to invade without harming Afghanistan at all? I should have separated the second statement from the first, it was just me relating my experience on seeing it in the papers.
PS: I really wasn't supporting one side at all, just remarking on how old architecture and art is being destroyed. It's not just Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel-Palestine have suffered in that respect too. - fleischner, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4Let me guess -- you're a big Howard Zinn fan, right?
Want to tell me about which side INTENTIONALLY targets civilians and kids? -
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