We were still living in my brother’s apartment in Makrorian. (The word makrorian roughly translates as “living space.”) The apartments had been built by the Russians using the latest technological advances, such as a communal hot water system serving over ten apartment blocks, each housing up to 50 apartments. Despite being shelled countless times, many of the Makrorian blocks have survived even today, and the hot water system even still works. Today it is still a sought-after neighborhood. During this time, Kabul was divided into different sectors. The central parts, Khair Khana, Makrorian, and around the King’s Palace, were controlled by the mujahideen government, which was then headed by President Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former general from Badakhshan and a man my family knew well—hence my brother’s senior position at the Interior Ministry. The famous “lion of the Panjshir,” Ahmed Shah Massoud, was his minister of defense. The west of Kabul was controlled by a man named Mazary, the leader of an ethnic group called the Hazaras.
What do You think about The Favored Daughter (2011)?
