First published in 1987, Camel Bells looks at pre-Taliban Afghanistan through the eyes of 12-year-old Hajdar. It is a novel that moves back and forth in time, chronicling the Marxist coup of 1979 and the ensuing Soviet invasionùthe beginning of the nearly ten-year struggle between Russia and the mujahadeen freedom fighters that ended with the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1988/1989 and that lead, ultimately, to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in 1996. Carlsson gives us a vivid portrait of life in the frontier mountain villages of Afghanistan that would be amongst the hardest hit during Soviet efforts to control Afghanistan, a portrait of close-knit family life and a caring community that works together, as well as glimpses of the last lingering splendors of Kabul when East and West still mixing freely.