Almost twenty years after a book about an Afghan bookseller became an international bestseller, the celebrated protagonist is today in London seeking asylum.
In the spring of 2002, after the Taliban had been overthrown by the US military and its allies, Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad spent four months living with Kabul bookshop owner Shah Muhammad Rais and his family.
Penning her experience in the non-fiction work, The Bookseller of Kabul, the account was a moving portrait of an Afghan family navigating the sometimes contradictory tensions between cultural conservatism and the desire for political freedom.
Two decades on, following the Taliban’s resurgence to power in August, Rais is now waiting for his asylum case to be processed after arriving at a UK airport in September, according to UK newspaper The Guardian.
Currently living alongside other asylum-seekers in a Home Office hotel, the 68-year-old said the UK was the “only door open” for him to seek safety from the hard line group in Afghanistan.
Rais is not thought to be part of the approximately 15,000 people evacuated from Afghanistan by the UK government under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy last summer.
At least half of those who were evacuated in August are still living in bridging hotels across the country while they wait for permanent housing.
The government’s new Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme opened in January under the pledge to resettle up to 20,000 people who are at risk, with 5,000 in the first year.
Having established his bookshop, Shah M Book Co, in 1974, Rais has endured many of the turbulent periods his country has faced over the past half a century, including the Taliban’s first foray into government in the 1990s, which saw piles of his books being burned in the street.
Back then, Rais defied authorities by hiding most of his stock — almost ten thousand books — in attics all over Kabul and kept his store open. It later opened online.
Having withstood the Taliban’s crackdown once before, he is less optimistic of the shop’s future this time.
Between the country’s economic crisis, social restrictions and the mass migration of a large proportion of Afghanistan’s book-reading residents, Rais says book buyers are now few and far between.
Nevertheless, he plans to keep his shop open as long as the Taliban doesn’t ban or destroy it and has already found hiding places in neighbouring Iran and Pakistan for some of his books.
When The National spoke with the bookseller last September, he said he had "big plans" to "digitalise the whole store". He said he had started to reprint rare and hard-to-find books and was filing others as PDFs.
"I want to make sure history is preserved,” said Rais.
The Taliban are not the only political entity to threaten the bookseller's life and livelihood. He was twice imprisoned during the Soviet era, during which time he says he experienced torture, including sleep deprivation and being forced to live in freezing conditions.
Despite living through successive repressive regimes, the civil engineering graduate continued to heroically protect and spread his love of books.
His famed store is thought to stock the largest collection of books about Afghanistan under one roof but Rais’s love of classics means his shelves have also included a wide-range of literary works by the likes of William Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway, Leo Tolstoy and Rumi.
The bookseller said during Afghanistan’s relatively liberal inter-Taliban years between 2002 and 2020 he sold more than 15,000 copies of European and US literature.
His diversity of stock reflects his desire to showcase a range of opinions and narratives on historical events.
“I am on the side of sincerity,” Rais told The Guardian. “The Soviets put me in jail for collecting decrees of Mohammed Omar and other newspapers I obtained in Pakistan. I said to the judge: ‘Tomorrow we will need these papers — to understand your enemies.’”
If his asylum application is successful in the UK, the book lover wants to open an Afghan reading room at the British Library. He is currently writing a book on Afghan land and culture and says his dream is to open a multicultural bookshop for people from central Asia.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
LAST 16
SEEDS
Liverpool, Manchester City, Barcelona, Paris St-Germain, Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig, Valencia, Juventus
PLUS
Real Madrid, Tottenham, Atalanta, Atletico Madrid, Napoli, Borussia Dortmund, Lyon, Chelsea
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Norway
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Canada
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Company profile
Name: Tratok Portal
Founded: 2017
Based: UAE
Sector: Travel & tourism
Size: 36 employees
Funding: Privately funded
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
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SQUADS
Bangladesh (from): Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mahmudullah Riyad, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Taijul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain, Nayeem Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadat Hossain, Abu Jayed
Afghanistan (from): Rashid Khan (capt), Ihsanullah Janat, Javid Ahmadi, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Qais Ahmad, Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Afsar Zazai, Shapoor Zadran
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
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Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Results:
CSIL 2-star 145cm One Round with Jump-Off
1. Alice Debany Clero (USA) on Amareusa S 38.83 seconds
2. Anikka Sande (NOR) For Cash 2 39.09
3. Georgia Tame (GBR) Cash Up 39.42
4. Nadia Taryam (UAE) Askaria 3 39.63
5. Miriam Schneider (GER) Fidelius G 47.74
The Kingfisher Secret
Anonymous, Penguin Books
