A Thousand Splendid Suns

In less than two hours, both towers have collapsed
Soon all the TV stations are talking about Afghanistan and the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden.
* * *
"Did you hear what the Taliban said?" Tariq asks. "About bin Laden?"
Aziza is sitting across from him on the bed, considering the board. Tariq
has taught her to play chess. She is frowning and tapping her lower lip
now, mimicking the body language her father assumes when he's
deciding on a move.
Zalmai's cold is a little better. He is asleep, and Laila is rubbing Vicks
on his chest.
"I heard," she says.
The Taliban have announced that they won't relinquish bin Laden
because he is a mehman, a guest, who has found sanctuary in
Afghanistan and it is against the Pashiunwali code of ethics to turn over a
guest. Tariq chuckles bitterly, and Laila hears in his chuckle that he is
revolted by this distortion of an honorable Pashtun custom, this
misrepresentation of his people's ways.
A few days after the attacks, Laila and Tariq are in the hotel lobby
again. On the TV screen, George W. Bush is speaking. There is a big
American flag behind him. At one point, his voice wavers, and Laila
thinks he is going to weep.
Sayeed, who speaks English, explains to them that Bush has just