Those pictures are long before the Soviet invasion in 1979.
I know, but even so.....even Russian occupation beats what they have now.
If you go to the areas of Afghanistan that had heavy Russian influences, ie Herat, you’ll see some of their bloodlines in the folks.
They did some horrible, horrible things to the Afghans. But, they were at war and fought it the way they did. However, if you go to the cities that they occupied, there is/was some semblance of modern life.
Then....the Taliban moved in and revved up the opium machine so they could live the good life while the people starved and regressed into the stone ages.