Searching for Saleem

by Farooka Gauhari

Searching for Saleem is a first-person account - written by a wife, mother, and professional - of a national tragedy that interrupted daily life in Afghanistan after the communist coup of April 1978. Farooka Gauhari tells of her desperate attempts to find out what happened to her missing husband, Saleem, and her gradual, painful decision to leave the country with her three children. In a broader sense, her story reflects the harrowing experiences of countless Afghan families: their sufferings and their struggles to maintain their identities under totalitarian rule. It typifies the kinds of human rights violations practiced against scores of Afghans who disappeared into dark cells or were executed without trials by successions of communist governments.