Latifa is the story of a teen age afghan girl witnessing her country going through turbulent times. Latifa, the pseudonym used by author to prevent any reprisal for writing her experiences, was born in 1980 in Russian occupied Afghanistan, to an affluent family living in Kabul. Her mother was Tajik while her father was of Pashtun origin. They lived in an elite area of Kabul where many other government dignitaries lived as well. She had two brothers Daoud and Wahid. Wahid served time in Afghan army under the aegis of Russian presence. Daoud, the younger brother went to attend Kabul University. Her father was a shopkeeper by occupation. Her mother used to be a doctor but she was a full time housewife at the time of Taliban arrival, though she never stopped giving consultancy to people coming to her home. Not clear from the book but suffered from few ailments including depression and lethargy and was mostly on drugs. Her eldest brother, Wahid, later on left for Russia and settled there. Her elder sister Chakila was married to a family in Peshawar and was to leave for U.S.A with her husband. Her sister Sorya worked for Ariana airlines as an air hostess. Her story starts from 1996, the year Taliban made their presence felt. Story jumps back and forth in time to describe authors experience over a decade. Arrival of Taliban is described as the worst thing that ever happened to Afghanistan. Taliban’s draconian laws, supposedly based on sharia made life miserable for Afghans especially women. Latifa was virtually imprisoned in her own home. Taliban placed stringent restriction on movement of women. Those restrictions tore her life apart. Not that Kabul prior to arrival of Taliban was a paradise but Taliban sure made it became hell for the author and women in general. She was not allowed to go outside let alone to go school. Her sister also had to stop working. Most sources of entertainment including videos and magazine were banned by Taliban so it was pretty hard to get time pass by. Women were barred from all sorts of occupation which meant women without male patron were force to beg. Similarly, women were not allowed to get medical checkups by male doctors and there were no women doctors to be found as they were not allowed to practice. It put women in a very miserable condition. Author also saw the total demise of local culture and values by Taliban. She recalls the wedding of her brother Daoud. It was a very bland affair, with no songs, no dances, no recording and no photos. A friend did try to capture the moment on celluloid but Taliban somehow got hold of this and raided the wedding party and punished the friend. Her brother Wahid served in the military under Russian control. After his military training was finished he was sent to Maidan Shar front. Wahid saw Russian soldiers butchering civilians before his own eyes. War took a toll on him, made him serious and more conservative. He became stricter in observance of Islamic law. Wahid rebelled against Soviet orders. He received detentions multiple times for his behavior. Eventually he was sentenced to prison at Pol-e-Tcharki. He was a political
prisoner of Soviets. He spent 3 years in the prison until 1992 when Ahmed Shah Masoud’s men arrived in Kabul and political prisoners were released. Wahid was later on sent by his father to Russia where he got married and settled. Author recounts her visit to Pakistan. It was not very easy to get to Pakistan. First they had to take the passage to Jalalabad and then from there on they went to Peshawar via Turkham Pass. It was cruel journey with lot of heat and exhaustion. Her purpose of visit was to get a medical checkup for herself and her mother. Taliban were very strict regarding traveling of of women. So they had to be extra cautious. Author describes her experience at entrance to Pakistan where the Pakistani guard asked them for bribe to let them pass. Peshawar was far more amenable to life with relative freedom. But even then they were very cautious because they were afraid if anything they might say or do may not reach back to Kabul. One interesting aspect of their travel was that they had to leave someone behind in their apartment because Taliban were known to be very interested in their block and would take up residence in any apartment they found vacated. Taliban strictly enforced the early marriages of girls. A girl for which suitor was not found was often married to some Talib. Author describes a near relative where the poor girl had to be married to a younger boy in the family because Taliban were drooling over her. Similarly author herself had to be on guard so as to avoid attention of Taliban. She was confined to her room. Only a male would answer the door and even then very cautiously. Taliban on their arrival asked everyone to hand over any kind of arms and objectionable material to them. Her family had to forego a couple of swords and a gun which were primarily for decoration and were in fact family heirlooms. They also had to give up the portrait of her mother. Her father had a hard time giving up those items but did oblige albeit grudgingly. Author recalls a horrible memory of three afghan countryside girls who came to her mother for medical assistance. These girls were assaulted, raped and later on their assailants cut off their female genitalia. It was tragic spectacle. Her mother did what she could. She asked for help from a doctor she knew she could trust. The doctor was resourceful and managed medicines while her mother spent all night providing them with health care. Medicines were hard to come by and very expensive which made their job even more tenuous. Girls were so afraid that they refused to lose their veil even in private. As per author’s mother those girls would live but their life won’t be easy both medically as well as socially. Societal behavior would also hurt them at every step of their life. No one would marry those poor girls. Taliban replaced the traditional schools with their own Madrassas. Children spent all day reciting and learning Quran. Author tells us that those poor children were taught the distorted version of Islam, which didn’t open to the world, rather it helped Taliban
to advance their own doctrine. Ms. Fawzia, an ex-teacher started a secret school where she taught children in pre-Taliban era courses. However, Taliban somehow got wind of the secret school and eventually found the identity of the teacher. They didn’t show any mercy to the teacher. Though they didn’t execute here, they bruised her badly, threw her down the stairs so violently that she broke her leg. She was forced to sign a declaration that she would never teach again. Latifa and here adventurous friend Farida, in Ms. Fawzia’s footsteps, started their own school. But they were far more cautious. They were very prudent about picking their student. Most of the students were from the immediate neighborhood. Author’s family had close ties with families of those children. Latifa asked Ms. Fawzia for help and surprisingly Ms. Fawzia agreed. She provided them with teaching material and curriculum. Latifa avoided meeting Ms. Fawzia and always used third part messenger to communicate with lest she may come on Taliban’s radar. Entire family of Latifa was involved in the project. Her brother Daoud provided the needed material like pencils and notebooks, Sorya helped check student’s homework, her mother provided food to children. Their clandestine operation continued successfully without the Taliban getting any hint of it until the time author and her family stayed in Kabul. All in all, it’s a story from the perspective of a teenage afghan girl who, before the arrival of Taliban enjoyed liberal and secular societal norms, and was now forced to live in the confines of her home. She constructs her narrative based on her personal experiences and through the experiences of her immediate family. We get to see how the fabric of society was torn apart by internal and external security turmoil. Author’s writing style is personal though a bit crude. Most of writing is based on first hand experiences but there are few places where it is tainted by hearsay, unsubstantiated claims and author’s personal bias. For example it is pretty clear that the author’s perception about the neighboring Pakistan is not very positive. Her depiction of Pakistan as an evil state is at best naïve. Tone of writing makes one realize that author holds great deal of resentment towards Pakistan. It is especially paradoxical when one considers her general perception about Russia, US and Europe. It is as if Pakistan is an evil state with nefarious plans to occupy Afghanistan while the ‘Good’ West wants to save Afghanistan. None of these claims and accusations is substantiated with reliable references. However, such claims do jeopardize veracity of her depiction of Taliban era Afghanistan.
