Christina Lamb - Chris O'€™Connor

Despite negative coverage surrounding the banning of events related to the horrors of the late 1960s communist purge, this year'€™s Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) attracted a host of internationally acclaimed journalists and writers.

One of most acclaimed writers at this year'€™s UWRF was the award-winning Sunday Times foreign correspondent and author, Christina Lamb.

Post her formative days in Peshawar, Lamb received the Prix Bayeux, Europe'€™s most prestigious award for war correspondents, has been named Foreign Correspondent of the Year five times, and was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013.

Lamb'€™s dispatches and books offer her readers a unique insight into the reality of the issues surrounding Pakistan-Afghan and, for anyone with even a modicum of interest in the region and its subsequent global impact, her latest book, Farewell Kabul: From Afghanistan to a more Dangerous World, is a must read.

Outside of journalism, Lamb is perhaps best known for her 2013 book I am Malala; the story of Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani girl who, because of her belief in and fight for the right to an education, was shot in the head by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (the Taliban) during a bus ride home from school in 2012.

Malala was 10 years old when the Taliban established control in the once beautiful but now infamous Swat Valley; a year later Malala had developed a reputation due to her advocacy of education throughout Pakistan and by 2012 was receiving regular death threats from Islamists accusing her of spreading secularism.

At 14, Malala found herself fighting for life after the failed assassination attempt. A gunman had boarded the school bus, asked for her by name and threatened to kill everyone on board, if Malala did not identify herself. He then shot her in the head at close range; the bullet traveled through her head and neck and lodged in her shoulder, and the gunman left her for dead.

'€œI was asked to help Malala write her story by her father. It turns out that I had interviewed him in the Swat Valley many years before and he wanted someone familiar with Pakistan and the nuances of Pakistani society. I went to see them in Birmingham, after her operation, where I was met by a grinning mustached Pakistani man. '€˜Don'€™t I know you'€™, I said?'€ explained Lamb, while attending the festival.

Malala'€™s moving story is a result of the complex issues surrounding Pakistani internal and external religious pressures, compounded by government and military corruption. And, while it is an exhilarating and inspirational read, written with an insight that leaves one in awe, it is Lamb'€™s latest book, Farewell Kabul: From Afghanistan to a more Dangerous World that may prove to be far more important in both its content and warnings.

Her long association with Afghanistan began as a young journalist in the late 1980s and Farewell Kabul is her second book detailing her experiences and observations from the war-torn country.

'€œIt'€™s a huge book and the story of 28 years in and out of both Pakistan and Afghanistan.'€

After graduating from University College, Oxford, in England, Lamb'€™s career began as an intern at the Financial Times. In 1987, she interviewed Benazir Bhutto, who became Pakistan'€™s 11th prime minister the following year. Later in 1987, Lamb was invited to attend the wedding of Bhutto to Asif Ali Zardari, a man who would also, in time, become a Pakistani president.

'€œOnce there, I realized what I wanted to do and that this was where I wanted to do it.'€

As foreign correspondent in Pakistan, Lamb spent significant time embedded with the Afghan Mujahideen, which, at that time, was resisting the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Her extraordinary efforts and incisive commentary received mixed reactions. At home Lamb was named Young Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards in 1988, while in Pakistan, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) deported and banned her from entering Pakistan.

'€œDuring both arrests I was quite nonplussed. I knew the ISI didn'€™t like what I was saying about them, that they were selling arms provided by the US to Iran, but this was before the days when foreign correspondents were being beheaded by terrorists or abused and imprisoned by agencies. I was more irritated really.'€

Following deportation, Lamb was first posted to Brazil, then post-apartheid South Africa, before stints in Zimbabwe, Brazil, Iraq and Pakistan, as well as back to Afghanistan.

 '€œAfter we had met with the town elders we were given safe passage, only to come under attack from the Taliban.'€

In 2006, she was on a '€œhearts and minds'€ mission with the British Parachute Regiment in Southern Afghanistan, with no air support and running short of ammunition, they were under constant fire from machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades from all directions for hours. '€œThe discussion turned to saving the last bullets for ourselves,'€ Lamb explained, recounting one of her most hair-raising moments.

Written with raw emotion, her latest book recounts her 28 plus years of experiences, discusses the results of often ineffective and changing Western policy and addresses, what she considers to be, the Allies self-delusion that Pakistan was part of the solution and their seeming denial that it continues to remain very much part of the problem.

'€œThe reality is that the US and its allies, particularly post 9/11, ignored the fact that many Pakistanis had a close relationship with the Taliban. The fear of militant groups acquiring Pakistani nuclear weapons, the need for a land route into Afghanistan, all contributed to the persistent ignoring of the real issue. In Afghanistan, policy was disconnected from need. What the Afghanistan youth needed was jobs; what they got was a democracy of sorts, no jobs and more violence.'€

Lamb'€™s long working-relationship with former president Hamad Karzai was pivotal but, while she also shows sympathy, he too is criticized.

Karzai, Lamb recalled, '€œloved Cadbury'€™s chocolate and his favorite movie was Goodbye Mr Chips but he became isolated and had little influence outside of Kabul. This is what the Western powers failed to grasp; they made promises that were impossible to keep'€.

The Taliban are, she feels, in no position to overrun Afghanistan but will continue to play a huge role in its future. The fractured tribal society and eternal low-level conflict is what Lamb sees as the ongoing reality. '€œOver 62 percent of the population is under 25 years of age and over 42 percent under 14: They have never known a life without war.'€

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