Madam SEPTEMBER 1996
Iwo and a half years later, Mariam awoke on the morning of September 27 to the sounds of shouting
and
whistling, firecrackers and music. She ran to the living room, found Laila already at the window,
Aziza mounted on her shoulders. Laila turned and smiled.
"The Taliban are here," she said.
* * *
Mariam had first heard of the Taliban two years before, in October 1994, when Rasheed had
brought home news that they had overthrown the warlords in Kandahar and taken the city. They were
a guerrilla force, he said, made up of young Pashtun men whose families had fled to Pakistan during
the war against the Soviets. Most of them had been raised-some even born-in refugee camps along the
Pakistani border, and in Pakistani madrasas, where they were schooled inShari'a by mullahs. Their
leader was a mysterious, illiterate, one-eyed recluse named Mullah Omar, who, Rasheed said with
some amusement, called himselfAmeer-ul-Mumineeny Leader of the Faithful.
"It's true that these boys have norisha, no roots," Rasheed said, addressing neither Mariam nor Laila.
Ever since the failed escape, two and a half years ago, Mariam knew that she and Laila had become
one and the same being to him, equally wretched, equally deserving of his distrust, his disdain and
disregard. When he spoke, Mariam had the sense that he was having a conversation with himself, or
with some invisible presence in the room, who, unlike her and Laila, was worthy of his opinions.
"They may have no past," he said, smoking and looking up at the ceiling. "They may know nothing of
the world or this country's history. Yes. And, compared to them, Mariam here might as well be a
university professor. Ha! All
true. But look around you. What do you see? Corrupt, greedy Mujahideen commanders, armed to the
teeth, rich off heroin, declaring jihad on one another and killing everyone in between-that's what. At
least the Taliban are pure and incorruptible. At least they're decent Muslim boys.Wallah, when they
come, they will clean up this place. They'll bring peace and order. People won't get shot anymore
going out for milk. No more rockets! Think of it."
For two years now, the Taliban had been making their way toward Kabul, taking cities from the
Mujahideen, ending factional war wherever they'd settled. They had captured the Hazara commander
Abdul Ali Mazari and executed him. For months, they'd settled in the southern outskirts of Kabul,
firing on the city, exchanging rockets with Ahmad Shah Massoud. Earlier in that September of 1996,they had captured the cities of Jalalabad and Sarobi.
The Taliban had one thing the Mujahideen did not, Rasheed said. They were united.
"Let them come," he said. "I, for one, will shower them with rose petals."
* * *
They "went our that day, the four of them, Rasheed leading them from one bus to the next, to greet
their new world, their new leaders. In every battered neighborhood, Mariam found people
materializing from the rubble and moving into the streets. She saw an old woman wasting handfuls of
rice, tossing it at passersby, a drooping, toothless smile on her face. Two men were hugging by the
remains of a gutted building, in the sky above them the whistle, hiss, and pop of a few firecrackers set
off by boys perched on rooftops. The national anthem played on cassette decks, competing with the
honking of cars.
"Look, Mayam!" Aziza pointed to a group of boys running down Jadeh Maywand. They were
pounding their fists into the air and dragging rusty cans tied to strings. They were yelling that
Massoud and Rabbani had withdrawn from Kabul.
Everywhere, there were shouts:Ailah-u-akbar!
Mariam saw a bedsheet hanging from a window on Jadeh Maywand. On it, someone had painted
three words in big, black letters: zendabaad taliban! Long live the Taliban!
As they walked the streets, Mariam spotted more signs-painted on windows, nailed to doors,
billowing from car antennas-that proclaimed the same.
* * *
Mariam sawher first of the Taliban later that day, at Pashtunistan Square, with Rasheed, Laila, and
Aziza. A melee of people had gathered there. Mariam saw people craning their necks, people
crowded around the blue fountain in the center of the square, people perched on its dry bed. They
were trying to get a view of the end of the square, near the old Khyber Restaurant.
Rasheed used his size to push and shove past the onlookers, and led them to where someone was
speaking through a loudspeaker.
When Aziza saw, she let out a shriek and buried her face in Mariam's burqa.
The loudspeaker voice belonged to a slender, bearded young man who wore a black turban. He was
standing on some sort of makeshift scaffolding. In his free hand, he held a rocket launcher. Beside
him, two bloodied men hung from ropes tied to traffic-light posts. Their clothes had been shredded.
Their bloated faces had turned purple-blue.
"I know him," Mariam said, "the one on the left."
A young woman in front of Mariam turned around and said it was Najibullah. The other man was his
brother. Mariam remembered Najibullah's plump, mustachioed face, beaming from billboards and
storefront windows during the Soviet years.
She would later hear that the Taliban had dragged Najibullah from his sanctuary at the UN
headquarters near Darulaman Palace. That they had tortured him for hours, then tied his legs to a truck
and dragged his lifeless body through the streets.
"He killed many, many Muslims!" the young Talib was shouting through the loudspeaker. He spoke
Farsi with a Pashto accent, then would switch to Pashto. He punctuated his words by pointing to the
corpses with his weapon. "His crimes are known to everybody. He was a communist and akqfir This
is what we do with infidels who commit crimes against Islam!"
Rasheed was smirking.
In Mariam's arms, Aziza began to cry.
* * *
The following day, Kabul was overrun by trucks. In Khair khana, in Shar-e-Nau, in Karteh-Parwan,
in Wazir Akbar Khan and Taimani, red Toyota trucks weaved through the streets. Armed bearded men
in black turbans sat in their beds. From each truck, a loudspeaker blared announcements, first in
Farsi, then Pashto. The same message played from loudspeakers perched atop mosques, and on the
radio, which was now known as the Voice ofShort 'a. The message was also written in flyers, tossed
into the streets. Mariam found one in the yard.
Ourwatanis now known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. These are the laws that we will
enforce and you will obey:
Ail citizens must pray five times a day. If it is prayer time and you are caught doing something other,
you will be beaten.
Ail men will grow their beards. The correct length is at least one clenched fist beneath the chin. If
you do not abide by this, you will be beaten.
Ml boys will wear turbans. Boys in grade one through six will wear black turbans, higher grades
will wear white. Ail boys will wear Islamic clothes. Shirt collars will be buttoned.
Singing is forbidden.
Dancing is forbidden.
Playing cards, playing chess, gambling, and kiteflying are forbidden.
Writing books, watching films, and painting pictures are forbidden.
If you keep parakeets, you will be beaten. Your birds will be killed.If you steal, your hand will be cut off at the wrist. If you steal again, your foot will be cut off.
If you are not Muslim, do not worship where you can be seen by Muslims. If you do, you will be
beaten and imprisoned. If you are caught trying to convert a Muslim to your faith, you will be
executed.
Attention women:
You will stay inside your homes at all times. It is not proper for women to wander aimlessly about
the streets. If you go outside, you must be accompanied by amahram,a male relative. If you are caught
alone on the street, you will be beaten and sent home.
You will not, under any circumstance, show your face. You will cover with burqa when outside. If
you do not, you will be severely beaten.
Cosmetics are forbidden.
Jewelry is forbidden.
You will not wear charming clothes.
You will not speak unless spoken to.
You will not make eye contact with men.
You will not laugh in public. If you do, you will be beaten.
You will not paint your nails. If you do, you will lose a finger.
Girls are forbidden from attending school All schools for girls will be closed immediately.
Women are forbidden from working.
If you are found guilty of adultery, you will be stoned to death
Listen. Listen well. Obey.Allah-u-akbar.
Rasheed turned off the radio. They were sitting on the living-room floor, eating dinner less than a
week after they'd seen Najibullah's corpse hanging by a rope.
"They can't make half the population stay home and do nothing," Laila said.
"Why not?" Rasheed said. For once, Mariam agreed with him. He'd done the same to her and Laila,
in effect, had he not? Surely Laila saw that.
"This isn't some village. This isKabul. Women here used to practice law and medicine; they held
office in the government-"
Rasheed grinned. "Spoken like the arrogant daughter of a poetry-reading university man that you are.
How urbane, how Tajik, of you. You think this is some new, radical idea the Taliban are bringing?
Have you ever lived outside of your precious little shell in Kabul, mygull Ever cared to visit thereal
Afghanistan, the south, the east, along the tribal border with Pakistan? No? I have. And I can tell you
that there are many places in this country that have always lived this way, or close enough anyhow.
Not that you would know."
"I refuse to believe it," Laila said "They're not serious."
"What the Taliban did to Najibullah looked serious to me," Rasheed said. "Wouldn't you agree?"
"He was a communist! He was the head of the Secret Police."
Rasheed laughed.
Mariam heard the answer in his laugh: that in the eyes of the Taliban, being a communist and the
leader of the dreaded KHAD made Najibullah onlyslightly more contemptible than a woman.