One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.

War doesn't negate decency. It demands it, even more than in times of peace.

Her beauty was the talk of the valley.It skipped two generations of women in our family, but it sure didn't bypass you, Laila.

I laughed. Partly at the joke, partly at how Afghan humor never changed. Wars were waged, the Internet was invented, and a robot had rolled on the surface of Mars, and in Afghanistan we were still telling Mullah Nasruddin jokes.

I'm sorry," Laila says, marveling at how every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief. And yet, she sees, people find a way to survive, to go on.

Zindagi migzara (life goes on)

Laila has moved on. Because in the end she knows that’s all she can do. That and hope.