a house divided, 1933–73the ‘Ordinance on the Women’s Veil’, which included such provisions as
‘If a perfumed woman passes by a crowd of men, she is considered to be
an adulteress’, ‘[women] must not wear sound-producing garments’ and
‘[women] must not look at strangers’. 54
Meanwhile in Kabul and other urban centres of southern Afghanistan
the rule of law broke down as thousands of heavily armed militiamen
poured in. Hundreds of suspected Communist sympathizers and pdpa
members were shot and their bodies left to rot at the side of the road.
Infrastructure constructed during the Soviet era was pulled down or burnt:
even the trams were set on fire and their cables torn down. Offices and
houses were commandeered and looted, with their occupants evicted
at gunpoint. Thousands of trees were felled for fuel when winter came,
turning shady places such as the Mughal gardens of Bagh-i Babur into
barren wastelands.
In the capital eleven separate factions occupied various parts of the city
and similar situations prevailed in Kandahar, Jalalabad and other urban
centres. Commanders ruled rural areas with little regard to central govern-
ment, seizing revenues, imposing their own taxes and presiding over a
rough justice, which routinely included torture and arbitrary execution.
Travel within the urban centres as well as on the highways of southern
Afghanistan was fraught with danger as armed militias set up unofficial
checkpoints, searched vehicles for Communist collaborators and demanded
tolls from motorists, taxis and bus and truck drivers. The Kabul–Jalalabad
highway was particularly dangerous and on occasion gunmen took Hazaras
and Panjshiris off buses and shot them by the roadside. Frequent turf wars
between commanders made the security situation even worse.
Following the fall of Kabul thousands of refugees began to return
to rural areas, where they faced the daunting task of rebuilding ruined
homes, reclaiming fields that had not been ploughed for years, replanting
orchards and vineyards and rehabilitating irrigation systems, while at the
same time having to deal with life-threatening hazards such as mines and
unexploded ordnance. Under the Rabbani government, opium production
continued to rise, as did opium and heroin addiction among Afghans. 55
A major international emergency relief effort began, focused on food for
work programmes, immunization, primary health care, the rehabilitation
of irrigation structures and mine clearance. The aid effort was hampered by
lack of funds as well as by the breakdown of law and order. During frequent
outbreaks of factional fighting un and ngo office and private homes were
repeatedly looted and expatriate workers had to be hastily evacuated to
Pakistan. In rural areas, commanders hijacked aid convoys and fired on