Glimpse of life among Afghan opposition in exile
Daily life in Afghanistan has become close to unbearable for much of the population. Is there any chance of normal life returning one day?
by Tam Hussein, Associate Editor at New Lines magazine
Times have been hard for Afghan politicians since August 2021, and there may be more hard times ahead. Ata Noor is a quiet man with an ash-gray beard and hard, pensive eyes. He wears a dark suit with a white shirt unbuttoned at the collar, in an unassuming manner. His three sons, all grown men, trail him. One of them, Tariq, refers to him as “his excellency” whenever he translates for him, instead of using the more familiar term, “my father says.” No spare movement, private conversation or banter passes between them when their father speaks.
They seem not only to respect him, but to revere him. For the last 40 years their father has been a man of consequence, someone who commands and is listened to. He is a proud former mujahedeen commander who fought the Soviet Union in the ’80s, an Islamist politician, the governor of Mazar-e-Sharif and purportedly the richest man in the country. It is said that nothing passed through his province, Balkh, that he did not have a say in. imes have been hard for Afghan politicians since August 2021, and there may be more hard times ahead.
Ata Noor is a quiet man with an ash-gray beard and hard, pensive eyes. He wears a dark suit with a white shirt unbuttoned at the collar, in an unassuming manner. His three sons, all grown men, trail him. One of them, Tariq, refers to him as “his excellency” whenever he translates for him, instead of using the more familiar term, “my father says.” No spare movement, private conversation or banter passes between them when their father speaks.
They seem not only to respect him, but to revere him. For the last 40 years their father has been a man of consequence, someone who commands and is listened to. He is a proud former mujahedeen commander who fought the Soviet Union in the ’80s, an Islamist politician, the governor of Mazar-e-Sharif and purportedly the richest man in the country. It is said that nothing passed through his province, Balkh, that he did not have a say in. When the Americans left, most of the opposition figures, warlords and government officials fled abroad to wallow in exile. Yet defeat is not a country that an Afghan politician such as Noor can abide in for long … Read more
- Hayat Life 21/02/23, Interview with Tam Hussein
- RSF on journalism in Afghanistan post US departure
- AEJ 12/03/23 Deadly Afghan blast targets journalists
- BBC (video) life two years on from Taliban takeover
- Wikipedia: Women journalists in Afghanistan