The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

We were left untouched for the next three days. We lived under house arrest without anyconnection to the outside world. Taraki’s brother, with his two children his niece, was with us.The cook and servants also remained. Then all of the relatives and staff were takensomewhere. Only the cook, Nasim, remained with us. Several days later, we were awakened byofficers from the security services in the middle of the night. “A decision has been made tosettle you in a different location. Pack up quickly.”The palace complex has a very modest house that stands aside from other buildings,named Samte Djuma. This is where we were brought. Except for a bare, rough bed, our roomwas absolutely empty. The floor was covered with a thick layer of dust. It looked like a prisoncell. I asked Taraki, “Have we committed some crimes?”“Nothing,” he responded in his usual philosophical tone. “Everything will be okay. This isa regular room. I know that soldiers lived here before. Now we will live here.”I cleaned up the dust. We spent eight days here. My husband behaved absolutely calmly.However, he asked to meet with Amin every day and kept repeating, “The revolution was mylife. I have pupils who will bring my work to completion. I have fulfilled my duty.” He wassixty-two years old. He was not ill, but his hair had turned completely gray.Later, I was warned that I would be taken to a doctor. It is true that I wasn’t feelingwell; my blood pressure was very high. An officer and a doctor came in the middle of the night.“Why do you want to take her at night?” asked my husband.“If people see her in theafternoon, there will be unnecessary rumors.”I was brought into another house, also on the Ark Palace territory. That house wascalled Kotai-gol. I saw the other members of our family there. “Why did you bring me here?” Iasked the officers. “You promised to give me medical treatment.”596