Freshta Jalalzai
On 9/11, I lived in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
Our neighborhood in eastern Kabul, Microryan, stood like a forgotten relic—a gray, unremarkable five-story housing complex built during the Soviet invasion.
By 2001, the Taliban controlled roughly 90 percent of Afghanistan, with the remaining areas, primarily in the north, held by the Northern Alliance, a coalition of anti-Taliban forces, particularly in northern regions like the Panjshir Valley. The Northern Alliance was primarily composed of remnants of the Mujahideen factions that had fought against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. However, after the collapse of the pro-communist regime in April 1992, they unleashed a devastating civil war that lasted from 1992 to 1996.
The civil war had reduced Kabul to ashes. Windows shattered during the fighting were patched with plastic, and the walls of burned apartments remained blackened by fire, riddled with bullet holes – a haunting reminder of the violence that had ravaged the ancient capital city.
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