Thousand splendid suns (page 52)

His cousin Daoud Khan did it while the ruler was in Italy getting restorative treatment. You recall Daoud Khan, correct? I educated you concerning him. He was head administrator in Kabul when you were conceived. Anyway, Afghanistan is never again a government, Mariam. It's a republic now, and Daoud Khan is the president. There are gossipy tidbits that the communists in Kabul helped him take control. Not that he's a communist himself, mind you, but rather that they helped him. That is the talk at any rate."