abstract:Marjan (1976 – January 25, 2002) was the most famous resident of the rundown Kabul Zoo. The lion witnessed Afghanistan’s turbulent history, from the 1978 murder of King Zahir Shah’s brother-in-law, Sardar Mohammed Daoud and his entire family, to the arrival of the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan that launched another coup, Great Saur Revolution, the USSR invasion, occupation and departure, state of warlordism, and the fall of Taliban.
Think of Marjan, a lion in Kabul zoo, which survived malnutrition and bomb shrapnel only to die of indigestion from the first real meal it received after the fall of the Taliban.
Although Defence Ministry spokesman Marjan Gjurovski called the group a danger to national security, the intensity of the threat remained difficult to gauge amid reports that the insurgents numbered no more than a few dozen.