Seamus Murphy: evaluation

Transcript context

…In the 1960s and part of the ’70s, it seemed Afghanistan was ready to grow, become a mature nation. What went wrong after that point, in your take? I don’t know — ’79 was the Islamic Revolution; ’79 was the invasion by the Soviets. There were things stirring in the region. I suppose, extremists were maybe heeding the call from Saudi Arabia. I don’t know. I’m not a historian. It seems too coincidental that these two things happened very close to each other. There were things going on. You’re right. You look at photographs of the ’50s, the ’60s — people dressed like people in the West. You look at pictures now, and it’s like going back 100 years, 200 years. But it’s happened around the world, hasn’t it? Religious extremism is not peculiar to Afghanistan. I think Afghanistan’s had a very bad taste of it because they are in a strategic position where they can be exploited. How urbanized is Afghanistan now? Kabul’s a pretty big city?…

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