Kabul

The assault in Kabul targets a maternity ward and shocks a country grimly accustomed to violence. And it isn't the only attack Tuesday as a suicide blast tears through a funeral in another province.

The Babur Garden is a place of respite in an often chaotic city. "Do you think the Taliban will ever accept this?" asks one man, pointing to himself and his fiancée, strolling among blooming roses.

In his essay this week, NPR's Scott Simon writes about how Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather ended up in a pile of books on the streets of Kabul and sparked one young man's imagination.