When she brought him his plate, the national anthem was playing on the radio.
“I made sabzi,” she said. “Put it down and be quiet.”
After the music faded, a man's voice came on the radio. He announced himself as Air Force Colonel Abdul Qader.
He reported that earlier in the day the rebel Fourth Armored Division had seized the airport and key intersections in the city.
Kabul Radio, the ministries of Communication and the Interior, and the Foreign Ministry building had also been captured.
Kabul was in the hands of the people now, he said proudly. Rebel MiGs had attacked the Presidential Palace.
Tanks had broken into the premises, and a fierce battle was under way there.
Daoud's loyalist forces were all but defeated, Abdul Qader said in a reassuring tone.
Days later, when the communists began the summary executions of those connected with Daoud Khan's regime,
when rumors began floating about Kabul of eyes gouged and genitals electrocuted in the Pol-e-Charkhi Prison,
Mariam would hear of the slaughter that had taken place at the Presidential Palace.
Daoud Khan had been killed, but not before the communist rebels had killed some twenty members of his family, including women and grandchildren.
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