Contents
CHAPTER TEN
Overview
Amir and Baba flee Kabul in 1981 with smugglers. At a checkpoint, Baba stops a Russian soldier from assaulting a woman and is narrowly spared by a senior officer.
Stranded in Jalalabad, they hide in a basement, then cram into a fuel truck to Pakistan, where Kamal dies from fumes and his father kills himself. The escape exacts a devastating human cost.
Summary
In March 1981, Amir and Baba ride in a smuggler’s truck toward Jalalabad with other refugees. Amir, carsick and anxious, reflects on their abrupt departure from Kabul and the climate of fear under the Soviets. At the Mahipar checkpoint, a drugged Russian soldier demands time with a young woman; Baba confronts him, risking his life. A senior Russian officer intervenes, shames the soldier, and allows the convoy to pass.
They reach Jalalabad before dawn and learn Karim’s brother Toor cannot take them onward. Baba assaults Karim for the deception, then, at the woman’s pleas, releases him. Karim reveals more refugees are hidden in the basement, where Baba and Amir spend a week amid filth and rats.
In the basement, they find Kamal—once one of Amir’s tormentors—now hollow and traumatized after an assault, and learn his mother was recently killed by a stray bullet. With the truck beyond repair, Karim offers another option: his cousin Aziz’s fuel tanker.
That night, the refugees slide into the tanker’s pitch-dark, fume-choked cavity. Amir panics until he fixes on the glow of Baba’s watch and conjures a peaceful memory of kite flying with Hassan. The journey is a blur of fumes, cries, and distant gunfire.
At dawn, they emerge in Pakistan, gasping for air. As the group gathers, Kamal is found unresponsive—dead from the fumes. In shock and despair, Kamal’s father seizes Karim’s gun and kills himself. The crossing succeeds, but at a terrible human cost that haunts Amir.
Who Appears
- AmirNarrator; flees Kabul with Baba, endures panic in fuel truck, witnesses deaths in Pakistan.
- BabaDefies a Russian soldier to protect a woman; assaults Karim; leads escape; anchors Amir.
- KarimSmuggler; drives to Jalalabad; lies about transport; is nearly strangled by Baba.
- Russian soldier (drugged)At checkpoint, demands the young woman; nearly shoots Baba before being overruled.
- Senior Russian officerStops his comrade, apologizes in broken Farsi, lets the refugees pass.
- Young woman in shawlTarget of the soldier’s demand; her plight prompts Baba’s intervention.
- Young woman’s husbandPleads for mercy; later kisses Baba’s hand in gratitude.
- KamalFormer bully; now traumatized and withdrawn; dies from fuel-tank fumes.
- Kamal’s fatherGrieving widower; after Kamal’s death, takes Karim’s gun and kills himself.
- AzizKarim’s cousin; provides the fuel tanker used to smuggle the refugees.