At last it was Hawaneen's turn. Among Afghans, readying a corpse for burial is up to the men. But Hawaneen's wife, shrouded in a burqa, is allowed to kneel beside her son's tiny limbs. She weeps quietly as her young daughter lifts a cloth covering the dead boy and kisses his forehead. Then Hawaneen and his clansmen set off at a swift pace to the rocky cemetery.
Survival is precarious in Afghanistan, even in the best of times.
And this has been among the worst of times. Racked by 20 years of war, first between the Afghans and the Soviets and now between the Taliban forces and the rebellious Northern Alliance that includes Tadjik, Uzbek and Hazara tribes, the country was ill prepared for three years during which nothing but dust seemed to fall from the sparse clouds. Two rounds of embargoes have reduced the traffic of goods to Afghanistan by air and road, making some essentials, such as gas and kerosene, more expensive. For the Taliban, tariffs were a major source of revenue for the ongoing war. For the rural warrior-clerics of the Taliban, Washington's behavior can seem baffling.