The Swallows of Kabul

The narrator compares a whirlwind in the empty desert outside Kabul to a sorceress dancing, noting how the Afghan countryside is torn by battle. Kabul is deteriorating, and the people in and around it have lost faith in the possibility of change.

Atiq Shaukat struggles to get through the crowded streets of Kabul, using a whip to lash at those in his way. He notes how people of all ages populate the market, begging for alms or trying to sell rotting wares. Atiq is late; he whips his way to a less crowded side street, where he finds Qassim Abdul Jabbar standing with a gun. Atiq’s excuse is that he needed to take his wife to the hospital, but Qassim is doubtful. Atiq enters the temporary prison set up by the Taliban, signaling to two militiawomen in burqas to prepare the prisoner for execution. The prisoner is a woman in a burqa, accused of sex work and sentenced to be stoned to death.

Mohsen Ramat joins the crowd waiting for the execution, noting how executions used to make him sick. Mohsen reminisces on earlier days, before the Soviet invasion, when people lived with “friendliness and goodwill” (10).