A black truck rumbles through the rocket-ruined streets of the Afghan capital, the hulking anti-aircraft gun it carries sheathed in a black tarpaulin.
If this day is like the ones before it, the tarp will come off in the evening when bombardment by US jets resumes -- and Taliban anti-aircraft guns once again come to life.
The roving unit of Afghanistan's ruling militia is one of the only vehicles allowed on the street at night in Kabul. A curfew takes effect at 8:30pm.
While the Taliban prowl the city, ordinary people cower in their homes, listening to the rattle of anti-aircraft fire and the concussive roar of bomb strikes, trying to comfort their frightened children.
Taliban troops also hurry to assess damage from the airstrikes. In raids Friday night and early Saturday, US warplanes pounded a Taliban military compound of Qali-Urdu, just across the street from the long-abandoned US embassy.
Most of the men who once stood guard outside the compound are gone. One of them, a gentle, black-bearded Afghan named Bashir, still comes back to check on the embassy occasionally.
Before the airstrikes began, a mob attacked the compound, burning the guardhouse and ripping down a large metal seal while Taliban police looked on.
Even if it weren't a symbol of a hated enemy, the embassy would be a dangerous place. Sitting close to an array of Taliban military sites, it could be hit if a strike went even slightly astray.
It's daylight, and still the occasional aircraft is overhead. There's an explosion, a burst of anti-aircraft fire. But the intrusion is brief.
Outside in the sunshine, a sheep bleats as a shepherd boy prods him along the street with a stick.
A girl of 5, her hair matted and unwashed, scrapes a small tin dish across the road. When a man on a bicycle passes, she holds out the dish -- a plea for food, accompanied by a pleading little smile.
Some relief for Kabul's hungry came Saturday when a Canadian-based Islamic charity, the International Relief Agency, distributed bags of flour in front of a mosque in the heart of the city.
Old men, the destitute, and widows hidden in their billowing burqas lined up for their share. Small children played atop the bags until Taliban soldiers shooed them away.
The charity said 220 sacks were distributed. But it was of little comfort to some despairing Kabul residents.
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