My grandfather was a foreign service officer (agricultural stuff) working in Iran in the late 50s and Afghanistan in the 60s. From what I've heard from my family (who all lived in both places) Afghanistan was always a bit behind Iran, but in the 60s it was somewhat progressive, at least in the cities. I don't have any of the pictures from Afghanistan processed yet, but I've been scanning the photos from their time in Iran, and was most surprised at the photos from Eisenhower's visit in '59. He's riding around in an open convertible, and there's a huge line of people on the tarmac to greet his plane (click below to see more, if you're interested). I can't even imagine that now. It amazes me how quickly things can revert. Zimbabwe is the same way, when I was there in the 80s it was a really pleasant, modern country. Not so much anymore.
