Salam Sangi

A Texas congressman sets a series of events in motion when he conspires with a CIA operative to aid Afghan mujahideen rebels fighting the Soviets.

Inspired by the Communist president Najibullāh's grand project to bring about reconciliation with the mujahidin, the story of Baba concerns two small villages drawn into conflict by a murder, a revenge plot, and the dishonorable dealings of a spy. The villages are finally reconciled by the advice of a wise old man, Baba, who has kept out of all the quarrels that have separated everybody else by retiring to a cave. The character of Baba is based on a real hermit, Baba Firoz, who lived in a cave in Goldara surrounded by tame animals and supposedly lived to be 127 years old.

Akhtar is a good humored working class man who is nicknamed The Joker, and tries to rise on the social ladder during the 1970s in Kabul.

A Russian doctor is invited to work at Afghanistan's top hospital during the war, and sees firsthand the carnage caused by the Islamist mujaheddin as they attempt to overthrow the socialist government.