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Uncertain future for the booksellers of Kabul
The Taliban have not yet ordered bookshops shut nor imposed censorship, but a climate of tension prevails and an economic crisis has hit takings.
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This picture taken on October 23, 2021 shows Abdul Amin Hossaini, a middle-aged bookseller, talking during an interview with AFP in Kabul. (AFP/Hoshang Hashimi)
T
he problem with this publication, a bookseller in the Afghan capital Kabul explains, is not so much that it's by Michelle Obama, but that she's not wearing a hijab in the cover photo.
The former US first lady's memoir Becoming goes back on the stack, ready for a curious reader.
The Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement seized the city in August and have declared Afghanistan an Islamic Emirate.
They have not yet ordered bookshops shut nor imposed censorship, but a climate of tension prevails and an economic crisis has hit takings.
Near the university, Kabul's book market was once a fashionable haven for the young intellectual crowd, but now around half the stores and stalls are closed.
Others are open, but readers are left in the dark as lights are turned off to save electricity.
Abdul Amin Hossaini, a middle-aged bookseller in a knit pullover and heavy square spectacles, tells AFP that business was good before the fall of the city.
