And one young-ish teacher, he would lead the prayers.

And then around noon, everybody would be filed into this auditorium, where the noon prayer would happen. And some of the teachers for those religious subjects were clearly officials of the Taliban government, because they would arrive in cars. There was multiple religious subjects that was added. Certain subjects were completely dropped.

But that is the best he could think of.ДЄnd then in school I remember the subjects all of a sudden changed. And then at the end of the stairs, he sealed the attic with a wall. And he took his cassettes, he took the television, he took the photo albums up the stairs to this little attic we had, and he put it all there. He had favorite singers that he would listen to. And my dad, I remember, he had a collection of cassettes. So you either destroyed the television that you had, burned the photo albums, or you found ways to bury them or to hide them. One thing I remember was, there was a constant fear of being raided if you had a television or there was music heard from your home. mujib mashalДЄnd who were the Taliban to you? What did you understand about them in this moment? mujib mashal And quickly any idea of television and things like that was gone. They were a force that did not believe in televisions, and music, and in any visuals. It was 1996, and one of the guerrilla groups, the Taliban, moved into the capital. michael barbaroДЄnd why was that? What had happened? mujib mashal I think I was seven or eight when it ended. But I just remember in the daily routine, in all the chaos, this was a moment of laughter, and color, and normalcy, right? michael barbaro And I donвЂ™t really remember the plot of the story. Most days than not, it was a show about- I think it was a rabbit. And there would be the national anthem.ДЄnd then they would go into a childrenвЂ™s program. And when youвЂ™d switch on the television, there would be a recitation of the Koran. Power would come up, and then people would switch on their television. And the little excitement that we had during the day was a couple hours in the evening weвЂ™d get electricity. What I was experiencing was largely just the sound and the horror of the rockets.

But as a kid, we didnвЂ™t know of these bigger dynamics. So Kabul, the capital city, is divided into little fiefdoms by these guerrilla factions, and theyвЂ™re firing rockets on each other. as part of this larger Cold War rivalry to fight the Soviets, are now fighting each other over the power vacuum. The Soviet Union that had invaded Afghanistan has just pulled out, and all these guerrilla factions that were funded by the C.I.A. michael barbaroДЄnd what was going on in the country that explained these terrifying experiences that are happening in your backyard? Who was behind this? mujib mashal So it almost became part of his backyard garden. But I remember very clearly for years after that, my dad would pour water into that spot where the shell had gone in, thinking it would rust up the shell, and it wonвЂ™t explode. And it landed, and it went through the soft dirt, and it didnвЂ™t explode. And we were lucky because the rocket cut through that apple tree. michael barbaroДЄnd we had this apple tree right in the middle of the backyard. One of those rockets landed as he was watering the flowers and vegetables in the backyard. And in the house we lived in, we had a small garden where my dad would grow vegetables when he would come back for work. But this was a period where the daily reality of this city was just the sound and the destruction of rockets. Every time he would visit our home, and he would knock on the door with his cane, it would be a moment of joy for us. He lived in a different part of the city. I think some of my earliest memories is my grandpa visiting our home in Kabul often. Mujib, tell me about some of your earliest memories of growing up in Afghanistan. Today, as that new chapter begins in Afghanistan, my colleague Mujib Mashal on what heвЂ™s learned from living with and reporting on the Taliban for the past 25 years. In his final days as president, Donald Trump is promising to withdraw as many American troops as possible from Afghanistan, all but guaranteeing a major place for the Taliban in the countryвЂ™s future. michael barbaroДЇrom The New York Times, IвЂ™m Michael Barbaro. Transcript Listen to вЂThe DailyвЂ™: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of the Taliban A Times correspondent reflects on what heвЂ™s learned from growing up with and reporting on the extremists in Afghanistan for some 25 years.

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