Storyteller's Daughter by Saira Shah

Below is a short response I wrote about the Storyteller's Daughter by Saira Shah. I had to read the book for my Muslim Women Writer's class. My main issue with this book is a serious one. Since it is written in a way that is accessible and entertaining to the general Western population, I think it could help readers justify the US intervening in Afghanistan both during the Marxist Revolution and, later, to fight the Taliban. Additionally, she leaves out a huge part of the historical and political contest making it easy for the general reader to overlook the complexities she presents about Afghan society.
Here is the link to a documentary also made by Saira Shah called "Beneath the Veil."

While the book is interesting to read, I have several questions about the author’s motives and political alliances and what purpose this book is supposed to fulfill for this class.

Unlike the other writers we have studied, Saira Shah was born and raised in Britain, a Western nation. I wonder what effect this had on her beliefs about Afghanistan, despite her family history in the area. She seems to view the culture from an Orientalist perspective, by romanticizing the traditional aspects of the society. For example, she values the fearlessness and “barbarity” that the tribes exhibited toward Britain in the 1800’s (16). Her modern day perspective focuses on the oppression of women and children in refugee camps as well as in Afghanistan. However, she seems to exploit this as well by avoiding an in depth analysis of the USSR’s involvement in Afghanistan and the US funding of the fundamentalist opposition. Rather than give a full analysis, she gives bits and pieces that seem to blame the Soviet Union outside of any previous historical context. What really made me question her politics was her support and praise of her ancestor, Jan Fishan Khan, who sided with the British colonizers against his own people and helped the British capture  Delhi in India. She praises him: “rather than take part in the massacre and rout of the British, my ancestor had tried to save the lives of women and children” (23). Her framing of this situation seems to be from the pro-British perspective. She calls it a “massacre,” but who was invading who? Also, why were the British moving women and children into the area? What about the women and children that were sacrificed in Afghanistan and India for the sake of British colonization? Shah seems to lack a critical analysis of this, perhaps because of her family background and being raised in Britain.

Perhaps an explanation for this is that Shah’s purpose in writing this book is not to comment on the political or historical context. Rather, she seems to be exploring the relation between myth and reality while exploring the effects of the Taliban on Afghan society. But I am wondering, what is the underlying purpose of this, and who is Shah’s audience? As a filmmaker and reporter, she seems to like informing the West about Afghanistan, so maybe she just wants to raise awareness about the culture? Perhaps she is trying to raise awareness about how myths and stories can carry valuable information about living life--more so than Western “objective” accounts of history.