I was a journalist based in Kabul when the Taleban first marched into the capital and committed an atrocity that most people other than Afghans have probably now forgotten - the brutal murder of President Najibullah, the former communist leader of Afghanistan.
Kabul has suffered destruction and poverty for many years
It was shortly after 0100 on 27 September 1996, when I monitored nervous radio messages from Afghan guards at the United Nations compound.
Najibullah had been living there under UN protection for four and a half years, since his government fell in 1992.
The guards told their Western bosses, who were staying in another part of the city, that some people were knocking on the gates demanding to see their "special guest".
It didn't take a cryptologist's skill to understand that the Taleban had come for Najibullah.
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