Facing The Taliban: Experiences of a UN woman aid worker in Taliban controlled Afghanistan

It is the night of 11th September 2001 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Anoja is frantically gathering her things for an evacuation. In the background, the falling bombs shake the foundations of the house, but her thoughts are far away, she can only think of her brother, Srinath, who is trapped in the debris of the Twin Towers in New York. In a cruel twist of fate, two siblings find themselves as bystanders on opposite sides of what would soon become a cruel and painful conflict. This dramatic opening to Anoja’s autobiographical account is just a small window into the fascinating and tumultuous tale of an aid-worker, mother and woman who finds herself in a place that would soon become a focal point of global politics. Amidst the heart-wrenching tales, there are instances of humour. The Taliban’s obsessions with their weird rules from the length of a man’s beard and the covering of a woman’s face are some humorous nuggets amid a bleak environment. Anoja’s encounters give a rare in