Ayesha Wolasmal works in the Global Partnership Against Polio when the US forces withdraw from Afghanistan in 2021. In the chaos that ensues, Wolasmal, like other international presence, is evacuated. A few weeks later, she travels back to continue the important work of coordinating health care in a poor country with weak infrastructure. This time it is the Taliban who are in power. Wolasmal’s meeting with health workers, ordinary Afghans and top politicians in the work to coordinate the vaccine program is the main track in “Thousand days with the Taliban”. But Wolasmal constantly interweaves flashbacks and detours. MERITED: Ayesha Wolasmal (b 1987) has since 2019 worked with women’s and children’s health in Afghanistan. She has previously worked for Norway’s military forces and the Norwegian embassy, and has a master’s degree in terrorism and radicalization from King’s College in London. Photo: Foto Sturlason Afghan newspaper in Grünerløkka She tells about growing up in Norway, with a father who ran a critical and influential Afghan newspaper from the apartment in Grünerløkka. She tells about reluctant summer holidays in Afghanistan in the years after the Soviet occupation ended. Young Ayesha would rather visit cool uncles in California than crazy aunts in Kabul. Wolasmal also shares experiences from his job at the embassy in Kabul and as a Norwegian soldier in Afghanistan. Wolasmal is fluent not only in Pashto and Dari, but also a wide range of cultural codes. She attends secret summits with high-ranking politicians, and is invited among Afghans in the countryside. The result is a book packed with captivating stories and interesting details. 2023: Afghan salon owners lost their jobs, but also a social meeting place when the Taliban decided last year that it would become strictly illegal for women to cut their hair or fix their eyebrows outside the home. The art of collaborating with the Taliban The book gives a unique insight into how one can gain influence in the face of a rigid and discriminatory Taliban regime. An important tool is the chat platform WhatsApp. What you cannot say outright in an official meeting, you can talk about more freely with the same person afterwards. Talking to the right people is absolutely central to getting projects done. One of the chapters is called “Tips for dealing with Afghan bureaucracy: Call a friend”. Wolasmal’s warm, temperamental and sometimes brooding style creates several memorable scenes. Some are humorous, others very dramatic. She describes how a starving woman and her small baby are denied food and health care because the woman does not have a male companion with her. Wolasmal speaks straight from the bed and confronts the responsible Taliban fighter: Fortunately, the woman and the child get help, and the scene is one of several examples of the consequences of the Taliban’s gender segregation. One of the book’s main agendas is to bring out the disastrous situation for Afghanistan’s women. As Wolasmal writes towards the end of the book: “It was approaching a thousand days with the Taliban. For the girls and women in Afghanistan, a thousand days were too many.” Hear Ayesha Wolasmal talk about summer holidays in Afghanistan in “Summer in P2”: The man behind the mullah title Wolasmal has an obvious talent for writing good personal portraits, and in parts reminiscent of the author Åsne Seierstad, she shows the nuances of a conservative religious community. She portrays both matriarchs in the countryside who want to preserve the strongly gender-segregated society, and more forward-leaning talibes who want to open the schools to girls. Wolasmal’s empathetic style brings out the people behind the stereotypes. She makes it possible to understand how Taliban fighters who were transformed into bureaucrats overnight can yearn for a simpler time of jihad. In a heartbreaking scene, she describes a young married couple of only 13 years. They have been married since the age of 7. “The man” says he did not want marriage. He was only interested in poetry. news reviewer Photo: Kagge Title: “Thousand days with the Taliban” Author: Ayesha Wolasmal Publisher: Kagge Genre: Non-fiction Number of pages: 296 Date: 16 May 2024 Criticizing Norwegian diplomacy This book is both a personal memoir, a report book, a debate post, a look at Norwegian diplomacy and a processing of strong impressions. The book wants to do many things at once, and succeeds by a long way. But as is often the case in life, what is a strength can also become a weakness. Precisely because the book plays on many strings, it can sometimes be difficult to keep up with. A little too often, the flow of reading is hindered by constant flashbacks and associations. Could the author have chosen something more to emphasize something else? In an interview in “Studio 2”, the author says that she is surprised that more interviewers do not address the book’s criticism of Norwegian diplomacy, and that part of the purpose of the book is to influence those in power. If the text had had a clearer focus, I think it would have succeeded even better. A corresponding lack of limitation can be found in the book’s many depictions. See for example here: The descriptions are both precise and image-creating, and are an example of the wonderful richness of the book. But it can be too much, and one good portrayal can kill the next. This objection notwithstanding, let there be no doubt that the book is a solid piece of work and a very fascinating introduction to both Afghan culture and Norway’s international role in the international arena. “A thousand days with the Taliban” is an original and well-written document from the modern global reality. What has happened in Afghanistan after the world’s attention faded? Hear Ayesha Wolasmal guest at the Social Security office: Hear the review in “Open book: The critics”: Published 11.06.2024, at 11.54
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“A Thousand Days with the Taliban” by Ayesha Wolasmal – Reviews and recommendations
