Afghanistan and Syria really were hippy hotspots in the 70s.
Things change, political stances blow over, regimes blow out.
In the last 15 years, the the contemporary traveller has gained access to Turkmenistan, Myanmar and others, and much more simple and safer travel to previously dangerous countries (the Balkans, Rwanda, RDC, North Korea, etc)
It's this shifting landscape that makes travel for the non "me too" crowd interesting..
The people passing through Afghanistan and Pakistan back then were heading eventually to three hippie places: Katmandu, Goa, and Poona (back when Rajneesh was there). I didn't use drugs, so i didn't relate so much. I was doing the trip for the adventure. Here's a read about that era in travel: https://www.richardgregory.org.uk/history/hippie-trail-01.ht...
I don't remember it being discussed. At that time, I and my parents lived in the USA, my one and only sibling in Israel. Me and my brother would exchange letters like may be twice a year. Likewise, my friends who lived in other cities, we exchanged letters just a few times a year max. So, it was normal for us not to communicate that much. It's not like we were texting each other every day and then suddenly went dark.
Also, parenting and childing were different back then (the 70's). For example, I remember when I was 16 I secretly hitchhiked solo from Detroit to Washington DC and then Chicago and back to Detroit. I explained my absence to my parents by telling them that I was riding with some friends to DC, that is, it was totally okay for three 16 year old boys to take off to another city back then. Now, I think a lot more parents wouldn't allow their kids to do that.
Afghanistan used to be pretty accessible for certain periods of time. Friend of mine travelled back to Europe overland from India and crossed Afghanistan in what must have been the mid 90s, he had plenty of photos posing with mujahideen guys with Kalashnikovs. Pre 9/11 I don't think there was much animosity towards the west.
Even now areas like the Wakhan corridor in Afghanistan are pretty accessible. I wouldn't do it, but plenty of people do.
