Afghanistan, a guidebook by Nancy Hatch Dupree, published in 1977, is an extraordinary volume. It is still on sale, and still the best guidebook. But it now reads like a guide to a country that no longer exists.
Writing about Kabul Zoo she says: "A lion, a gift of Germany, has a regal run beside the Kabul river; the kangaroos from Australia have settled in nicely; the raccoons from the United States are raising a family. A three-year-old elephant was presented by the government of India.
The elephant died in a rocket attack. Soldiers ate the deer. The kangaroos and raccoon are long gone, either they died, escaped or where killed.
But the lion is still here. He has survived the US bombing raids, and stoning by the Taliban who didn't approve of lions.
His face is lopsided, he can barely walk and is almost totally blind. His blindness is a result of a grenade attack by an angry Afghan. The man was angry with good reason. The German lion ate his brother after he had climbed into the lion's compound to tease him.
"There are crazy people everywhere," sighs Sheer Agha, the zoo's director. Two years ago another man tried the same trick - and suffered the same fate, but this time, there was no revenge.
Today there are 19 species who live among the ruins. They include several monkeys, two porcupines, two wolves, some eagles, a wild cat, 40 rabbits, a bear and a deer.
In the course of Afghanistan's recent wars, Mujahideen soldiers ate the deer and the rabbits, says Mr Agha, "because the guard could not stop them." Asked if they also ate the elephant after it was killed, he laughs and says, "no, that is not permitted by our religion". Surprisingly Mr Agha does not believe that the months of rocketing were the worst time the zoo ever faced. "It was the Taliban period," he says. "They were always bothering people and they were uneducated and threw stones at the animals. Once a Taliban commander came here and asked who was responsible. I said, 'I am' and then he asked me: 'Is there one sentence in the Holy Koran which says we should have a zoo?' I said that there was not, so then he said: 'Please take all the animals out.' I went to the mayor, who was a little better, and he gave me a paper which I showed whenever we had any other problems."
Says Mr Agha: "The Taliban were not at all sympathetic, they did not like scientists, only Mullahs." After the Taliban fled Kabul last week there was no money for food for the animals so Mr Agha was reduced to begging the market traders for credit.
Now, he says the new governors have kept their promise and sent him money. Still the staff have not been paid for three months and very soon their numbers are going to grow. Women who worked at the zoo will soon be returning. Under the Taliban women were banned from working. "They are very happy," says Mr Agha who is also hopeful somehow he will find money to rebuild his zoo.
Ms Hatch Dupree wrote that every evening at 5.30 the elephant would play a game of soccer with his keeper. She says that "two young chimpanzees, Bobby and Sue, are amongst the most popular residents." In one cage a bear has a bloody unhealed wound on its nose, the result, says Mr Agha, of being beaten by a Taliban seven months ago.
Mr Agha says: "Please tell the world about our plight so people can come and help us."