The Lovers (59 page)

Read The Lovers Online

Authors: Rod Nordland

Wadi, Abdul, 306–7

Wafa, Bashir, 7

Wahab, Abdul, 306–7

Waheed, 236–38

Walker, John, 105–6

Wardak, 104, 108

War in Afghanistan, 126–27, 219–20, 265, 284

WAW.
See
Women for Afghan Women

Wazir Akbar Khan, 116, 119, 197, 212

Wedding parties, 24, 26

Western Union, 111, 114–15, 245, 324
n

“Where Are You Going, Mullah Mohammad Jan?”, 209–10

Wiesel, Elie, 136

Wife beating, 57, 258–59, 261–62, 263, 267–68

Wikileaks, 181, 345
n

Wilson, Charlie, 256

Winfrey, Oprah, 80

Women, status of, 5–6, 27, 271–73.
See also
Jihad against women

age of brides, 41–42, 56, 303–4, 317–18
n

bride price, 41, 50, 105–6, 126, 147

divorce, 126, 269

education, 243–44, 257–58, 282–83

father’s choice of husband for daughter, 41–42

history of battle in Afghanistan for women, 56–57, 125–28, 256–58

international commitment to, 276–85

photographing women, 75–77

recruitment of women, 280–82

role of brothers, 24, 41

role of honor, 24, 60, 89–90, 99, 249, 290

social conduct of women, 268–70

social indicators of lack of progress, 282–84

son’s vs. daughter’s value, 50

wives abandoning husbands, 124–25

wives’ names, 11, 316
n

Women for Afghan Women (WAW)

Ali and Zakia’s legal case, 67, 140, 141–43, 147, 154, 168, 169–70, 182, 238

appeals for Zakia to enter, 151

Bibi Aisha’s case, 182, 271

Breshna’s case, 287–88, 294, 296–97, 303

Child Support Center, 343–44
n

donations for Ali and Zakia, 107–8, 114, 115, 152

shelter system, 89, 114, 118

Zakia at Kabul shelter, 163–65, 168, 170, 171–72, 177–79, 185–86

World Bank, 267, 334
n

World Values Network, 80, 112, 136–37

Yakawlang Gorge, 93, 97, 108, 115, 189

Yaqeen, Khadija, 66

Yaqub, Mohammad, 292

Yaqubi, Aimal, 87, 111, 113, 116, 119–20, 130–31

“Your Unkempt Hair” (song), 121

Yousef, 7, 30, 45–46, 79–80

Zahir, Ahmad, 121, 191–93

Zahir Shah, Mohammed, 23, 255–56

Zahra, 93–95, 98–101, 189–90

Zakia

appearance of, 41, 55, 72, 73–74

asylum/refugee options, 106, 232–33, 329
n

American embassy assistance, 106, 113, 119, 130–31, 134, 180–83, 196–97

Iran, 109, 140, 186, 197

Pakistan, 140–41, 197–98, 228

Rwanda plan, 111–12, 113–14, 119–20, 130–32, 134

Tajikistan fiasco, 220–21, 223–25, 227–28

author’s meetings with, 72–77, 97–101, 108, 112–16, 197, 201–2, 239–42

Bamiyan court case, 58–64, 73

at Bamiyan shelter, 54–56, 62–65, 69, 72–73, 74–75, 114, 178–79

admittance, 54–55

escape, 1–2, 7, 8–14, 67–68, 70, 135

birth of Ruqia, 235–36

bound for Tajikistan, 212–18

budding love story, 11–13, 27–30, 33–41

celebrity status of, 169–70, 175–77, 179, 199

childhood of, 23–24, 25–27

criminal charges against, 106–7, 111, 131, 134, 142–43, 147, 173–75

criminal charges dropped against, 177, 207, 211–12

family background of, 18–19, 23–24

family vows of honor killing of, 63–65, 72, 89, 123–25, 160–61, 170–72, 231–32

father’s refusal of consent to marriage, 43–44, 52–53, 58–59

financial assistance to, 101–2, 106–7, 185–86, 210–11

in hiding, 17–18, 25, 85–86, 87, 91, 92–104, 108–9, 190–91

Haji and Zahra’s home, 93–95, 94–101, 189–90

holding hands with Ali, 12–13, 16

initial friendship with Ali, 27

in Kabul, 109–21, 123–24, 128–29, 139–40, 148–54, 158–63, 193–208, 210–11, 231–32

kindness of strangers to, 69–70, 105–9, 114–15

lack of surname, 112

map of escape paths, xiv–xv

March–April 2014, 13–18, 67–68, 83, 85–86, 87, 92–104

June 2014, 177–79, 185–91

July–September 2014, 185–91, 193–94

September–October 2014, 226–28

marriage proposal of Ali, 29, 34–35, 42–44

meeting with Ali’s father, Anwar, 49–51, 52–53

neka,
14–16, 87, 170, 173–74, 177–78, 241

New York Times
and, 2–3, 69–70, 74, 80–83, 95–102, 104, 105–6, 108, 179

passport and visa issues, 111–12, 119–20, 193–94, 197–99

phone conversations with Ali, 35–37, 45, 51, 79

photographing of, 75–77

plans to leave Afghanistan, 191, 193–94, 196–200, 206, 208

pregnancy of, 157, 168, 190, 194, 215–16, 232–33, 235

Rastagar’s negotiated settlement, 143–48, 153–54

return to Bamiyan, 179–80

secret courtship and engagement, 35–41, 51–52

self-possession of, 55–56

in Surkh Dar, 186, 187–89, 191, 233–46, 249–52

in Tajikistan, 220–26

deportation, 226–27

entry, 220–21

Taliban occupation and, 22–23

at WAW shelter, 163–65, 168, 170, 171–72, 177–79, 185–86

Zakir, Qari, 60

Zaman (Mohammad Zaman)

arrest of Ali, 165–66

bigamy charges against Ali, 73, 80, 87–88, 91, 144, 166–67, 171

court case and, 59, 60, 62, 63, 66–67, 73, 87–88

criminal charges against Zakia, 171–73

honor of, 90–91, 124–25

in Kabul, 123–24, 144–45, 187

neka
of Zakia, 73, 88, 148, 170, 173

Rastagar’s negotiated settlement, 143–48, 153–54

refusal of consent to marriage of Zakia, 43–44, 52–53, 58–59

retribution against Zakia for dishonoring family, 2, 63–65, 88–89, 123–25, 160–61, 170–73

Zarmeena, 265

Zarnegar Park, 211

Zia, Ahmed, 98–99

Zina. See
Adultery

Zuleikha, 7, 30, 45–46

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ROD NORDLAND
is currently a correspondent-at-large for the
New York Times,
working throughout the Middle East and South Asia, but he spent more than three years as the paper’s bureau chief in Kabul. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for reporting in the United States, was a Pulitzer finalist for international reporting, studied as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, and has received many honors including two George Polk awards and half a dozen Overseas Press Club awards. Nordland has worked for three decades as a foreign correspondent in over 150 countries.

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CREDITS

Cover design by Sara Wood

Persian and Dari poetry and song translations by Bruce Wannell and Sahar Dowlashahi.

Photographs by Diego Ibarra Sánchez, Mauricio Lima, Andrew Quilty, Jawad Sukhanyar, and Kiana Hayeri

Map by Studio E Genevieve, designer Sisi Zhu

THE LOVERS. Copyright © 2016 by Rod Nordland. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-237882-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-0-06-246576-4 (international edition)

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