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Afghan Woman in Chadri, Afghanistan, 1968

Denied face and form by an age-old custom, a woman of Kabul secludes herself in a sleeveless silk chadri; a pair of Old World goldfinches rides home from market on her head. Reflecting the forces of change at work in the land, Afghan law no longer requires the chadri, whose pleats echo a style of centuries ago."

—From "Afghanistan: Crossroad of Conquerors," September 1968, National Geographic magazine

Photograph by Thomas J. Abercrombie