For the Love of a Son: One Afghan Woman's Quest for Her Stolen Child

that message would infuriate nearly
every man in the country, it would be sweet news for female hearts,
yet none of us could seriously believe there would be real change.
As male Afghan fetuses grow arms and legs in the womb, their little
brain tissues are already busy sprouting prejudice and
discrimination against women. Who could change the attitudes of
such men? Not even the Communists would be successful on that
point.
    If we had had any doubt that the Russians
were the force behind the coup, the gist of the message that the
people of Afghanistan were now equal erased any doubt. Everyone in
Afghanistan was to be on exactly the same level. There would be no
wealthy and there would be no poor. Everyone would be educated. The
first goal of the nation would be to abolish illiteracy, even
though most families did not allow their daughters to attend
school.
    Certainly universal education was a fine
goal, but unlikely to succeed, Afghan culture being what it
was.
    The Pashto speaker ended his speech shouting,
‘Long live socialism! Down with imperialism! Down with
America!’
    We spent the day sitting in front of the
radio, our only lifeline to news of the coup. Before the day was
over, an announcer informed listeners that ‘President Daoud has
resigned from his post due to health reasons’.
    My father clasped his hands together, looking
to the heavens, and exclaimed, ‘If only that is true.’
    Later that evening we heard more sobering
news when the official radio reported, ‘The homeland has been
liberated from the yoke of Mohammed Daoud’s dictatorship. The time
of fraternity and equality has begun. Daoud is gone for ever. The
last remnants of imperialist tyranny and despotism have been put
down. The national revolutionary council is looking after your
rights. Now, for the first time, power has come into the hands of
the people.’
    We were distraught by the tone of the
message, believing that the president had been killed. But what had
happened to the rest of his family? The worst was feared after such
a violent uprising. Many women and children lived with the
president at his palace. President Daoud had a wife, daughters and
daughters-in-law, with many grandchildren, some only toddlers.
There were also many officials and other presidential employees.
Where were all those people now? Nothing had been heard from any
former official or member of the royal family since the beginning
of the coup.
    I had heard the story of Prince Daoud more
than once, although I had given him little thought over the years.
He was born in Kabul, and his father, who served as the Afghan
Ambassador to Germany, was assassinated in Berlin in 1933. The
prince had been taken under the wing of other members of the royal
family, and was educated in France. He returned to serve in
important positions in the Afghan government, over the years
serving as Minister of Defense, Minister of Interior and Ambassador
to France, and he was appointed as Prime Minister in 1953. During
his decade as Prime Minister, he often turned to the Soviet Union
for military aid and opened up a rift with Pakistan over disputed
territory. This probably led to his dismissal as Prime Minister.
Ten years later, as we have seen, he led a quiet coup against his
cousin and brother-in-law, King Zahir, and deposed him when the
king was in Europe. This time he declared a Republic and assumed
the office of President.
    In 1974, President Daoud requested and
received military aid from the Soviet Union. Overnight it seemed
that Kabul was crammed with Soviet political advisors, physicians,
teachers and arms experts.
    Two years later, our President Daoud finally
‘saw the reality’ and, too late, tried to distance himself from the
Soviets. And that is when his real problems began. He travelled to
Moscow in 1977 for a meeting with Leonid Brezhnev, when Brezhnev
pressured Daoud to expel all NATO or US experts.
    Whatever else happened during that meeting,
it is thought that President Daoud came away even more convinced
that he must reverse his earlier sympathies and pull our country
far away from Soviet influence. This set off a chain of events that
would result in a puppet Soviet government, an armed invasion by
one of the most mighty militaries in the world, the near total
destruction of Afghanistan and the deaths of many thousands of
Afghan citizens. As a final indignity, the death knell for
Afghanistan would come with the rise of the Taliban and the
devastating actions of Saudi