We also were instructed to be off the streets by dark. That gave me plenty of time to talk to Zaira, whose family was hosting us. But even with the government-imposed restrictions, I was able to see firsthand the results of 21 months of war. The city is a haunting collection of twisted metal, burned-out buildings and mangy animals sifting through the rubble of homes long abandoned. Bleary-eyed presidential guards rest their Kalashnikov automatic weapons on the roofs of their Soviet cars, smoking Marlboros to fight off sleep.
Some telephone poles remain upright, but their torn cables dangle lifelessly.
At night, there are faint flickers in the windows as those without electricity rely on candles. Chechnya declared independence from Russia just as the Soviet Union was collapsing in December 1991. It was three years before Russia sent federal troops to the breakaway republic. An estimated 30,000 to 80,000 people, mostly civilians, died in the savage war that followed. Russia eventually lost to Chechnya's guerrilla army.