A country has to sometimes start at the beginning. Even an ancient country. Sometimes though, everything has to be done for them. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp has a 60s United Nations look to it. It was the prime era for Western and sometimes Eastern experts to come in and explain to locals how they could get things going. The arrogance and naivete seem almost charming in retrospect.
The stamp today is issue A205 a 300 Pouls stamp issued by the Kingdom of Afghanistan on March 22nd, 1963. The stamp promoted the growth of grain farming and other stamps in the issue promoted corn and rice as part of a plan toward food self sufficiency. Seems like an awfully dry place to try to grow rice. I am not sure why the currency on the stamp is not listed as 3 Afghan Rupees but in any case it is a big bump over the other values in the set of 2 Pouls and 3 Pouls. Perhaps it reflects the relative value of wheat in the food plan. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 75 cents whether mint or canceled to order.
Zahir Shah became King of Afghanistan in 1933 at the age of 19 upon the assassination of his father. For many years he was under a regency of his uncles. The country is a very poor and a very violent place. With almost constant attempted coups, and assassination attempts, the Royal house was constantly trying to look for way to bolster military capabilities. Zahir Shah’s title included the phrase “Leaner on Allah” but in reality he was more practical. Zahir Shah therefore came hat (crown?) in hand to both East and West seeking arms. The Soviet Union had been most generous in this regard but the tanks and supersonic fighter planes supplied were really beyond the capabilities of the backward country to operate.
As the King matured he sought ever more to take the reigns of power. The rights of women were increased and the veil was made optional. The post war UN-US aid program was put together to bring the country up. Completely paid for by outside. The crown jewel of the aid plan was a system of dams modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority that would allow for irrigation and electricity for farming of mainly wheat. The Helmand Valley Authority constructed 8 dams, many by Morrison Knudson, the makers of the Hoover Dam. Only 12 percent of Afghanistan was arable and only 6 percent was cultivated. Food production indeed went up but dried up again with war and the cessation of USA aid in 1979.
There was also natural gas resources first tapped in 1967. This gas was useful to Afghanistan in that it could be sent straight to the Soviet Union as a token partial payment for the large quantity of munitions that the country as a way of using.
The King was deposed in 1973 while on one of his frequent foreign trips and after he left the country became ever more dependent on the Soviet Union. He lead a life of leisure in Italy. After the new government in 2002. Zahir Shah returned with the new ceremonial title of “Father of the Country”. He even theoretically took possession of his old palace that had been built by the Germans in the 30s, though now it was a bombed out shell. That seemed to happen a lot, even in his time, so it was probably just as he remembered it. Naturally he spent most of his last years abroad. The Palace is now being renovated at a cost of $20 million paid for by the USA, hopefully in time for some fake 100th anniversary in 2019. When will we learn?
Well my drink is empty and I am wondering if there will ever be an accounting of how much foreign treasure has been squandered in Afghanistan. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.