Our Woman in Kabul

One of the first journalists in Afghanistan after the Taliban fell, Irris Makler set out alone to cover a war and discovered an even more enduring story about women caught in the crossfire. Risking her life in a war zone was one thing, but finding herself in a man’s world where women were virtually invisible opened a window onto another world. Surrounded by men, from the front line to the local bazaar, Makler had one major advantage over her male colleagues. While the hidden world of Afghan women was off limits to them, she broke through the wall of silence and uncovered a powerful force behind it: women willing to emerge from the shadows and take a role in their country’s future. As one woman put it: ‘Society is like a bird. It has two wings. And a bird cannot fly if one wing is broken’. Insightful, moving and often darkly funny, OUR WOMAN IN KABUL not only offers a vivid portrait of these remarkable women and a turning point in their country’s history, but of life on the road with an intrepid female nomad whose curiosity almost always overcomes her fear.