Afghanistan: "Life was good under the Soviets"

Burning schools didn't start yesterday. In fact, it used to piss the Soviets off. That didn't seem to bother the yanks so much then - who were fighting a proxy war against the USSR:

'Life was good under the Soviets,' Saira said. 'Every girl could go to high school and university. We could go wherever we wanted and wear what we liked. A lot of my friends wore miniskirts but I liked my long summer dress which was more comfortable. We used to go to cafes and the cinema to see the latest Indian films on a Friday night and listen to the latest Hindi music. I can remember having picnics with my friends after school when it was hot.'

Partly for ideological reasons, partly for practical ones, the Soviet Union subsidised schools and hospitals, built a vast bureaucracy with well-paid jobs for Kabulis and constructed a new city centre with open streets and parks. Saira was one of 1,000 medical students at the University of Kabul. She specialised in surgery and obstetrics. But soon after she qualified things began to change.

'It all started to go wrong when the Mujahideen started winning. They were uneducated peasants. They used to kill teachers and burn schools,' she said. Link