A set of color photos show Afghanistan in a very different light.
A Lifetime Ago: The Elegance Of 1920s Afghanistan
![Springtime in a garden near Kabul. In the 1920s, Afghanistan was a newly independent country after breaking away from the British Empire. For most of the decade, it was ruled by Amanullah Khan, a secular reformist who sought to modernize the country along Western lines.](https://gdb.rferl.org/b132df50-3d92-4b3d-b966-f265e65525cc_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Springtime in a garden near Kabul. In the 1920s, Afghanistan was a newly independent country after breaking away from the British Empire. For most of the decade, it was ruled by Amanullah Khan, a secular reformist who sought to modernize the country along Western lines.
![Pith-helmeted visitors in front of a tea house in the hills west of Kabul.](https://gdb.rferl.org/24973c06-7633-4daf-82fd-ccb5ccb1dd71_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Pith-helmeted visitors in front of a tea house in the hills west of Kabul.
![A goldsmith at work in a mud-walled courtyard in Kabul. These 1928 images, made by photographer Frederic Gadmer, form part of the Archives of the Planet project, which aimed to capture the world with large-format color photographs.](https://gdb.rferl.org/7104a671-7c5b-4b87-b28f-6b681d3ca3d1_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A goldsmith at work in a mud-walled courtyard in Kabul. These 1928 images, made by photographer Frederic Gadmer, form part of the Archives of the Planet project, which aimed to capture the world with large-format color photographs.
![A woman strolling along a tree-lined avenue in Kabul. The Archives of the Planet project was funded by a French banker who sent photographers to more than 50 countries between 1909-31.](https://gdb.rferl.org/01520d22-211d-4b28-a9b1-0fc38f39a79c_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A woman strolling along a tree-lined avenue in Kabul. The Archives of the Planet project was funded by a French banker who sent photographers to more than 50 countries between 1909-31.