'We can't give up on Afghans': Lyse Doucet's book about a Kabul hotel wins Women's prize for nonfiction

Prize for a 'people's history'

Lyse Doucet, the BBC's chief international correspondent, has won the Women's prize for nonfiction for her first book, The Finest Hotel in Kabul. The book recounts Afghanistan's history by focusing on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul as a constant witness to the country's upheavals.

Doucet first checked into the hotel on Christmas Day 1988, as Soviet troops were withdrawing. She planned a short stay but remained for nearly a year, and the hotel became her first home in Kabul. Over three decades later, it became the subject of her award-winning book.

'Afghanistan has largely slipped from the headlines,' Doucet said. 'Perhaps this win will bring some attention to the country. None of us should accept a world where girls cannot be educated after 16, women cannot go to university, and women are barred from many jobs. This is something we should all be angry about.'

The hotel as a constant

The Intercontinental Hotel, built by the British in the late 1960s, once symbolized a different Afghanistan—Kabul was known as the 'Paris of the east' in the 1960s and 70s. Afghan pop star Ahmad Zahir performed there, and Gloria Gaynor was a guest. Foreign travelers passed through on the hippy trail.

Despite decades of political turmoil, the hotel remained open. 'Politics, like hotel guests, checked in and out,' Doucet writes. At the heart of her story are the hotel staff: Hazrat, the housekeeper who worked there from the opening; Abida, the first female chef; Amanullah, the engineer; and Malalai, one of the first female waiters.

From the 2021 fall to today

The book opens with the fall of Kabul in August 2021 and the chaotic American withdrawal. Doucet recalls watching the evacuation: military planes, helicopters, Afghans fleeing with only one bag. 'People kept talking about Vietnam—that image of people clinging to the last helicopter rising from the Saigon embassy roof. In fact, it was a hundred times worse—Afghans racing to the airport, clinging to the underbelly of planes. It's been a really traumatising experience.'

Since returning to power, the Taliban have systematically erased women from public life. Girls are banned from secondary education and university, women forced out of workplaces, and strict burqa requirements enforced. Last month, a decree effectively legalized child marriage. This week, a rare protest in Herat against arrests of women for hijab violations ended with two people killed, including a child.

Hope and challenges

'Five years in and it is getting worse. It is a stain on our world,' Doucet said. 'But the courage of Afghan women is extraordinary.'

She also highlighted obstacles abroad: 'Afghan women get scholarships but no visas to study in Britain and elsewhere. They meet obstacles everywhere. We live very privileged lives, and it's not our privilege to give up on Afghans.'

Doucet cautioned against dismissing the achievements after 2001: 'People say: what did 20 years achieve? Was it all for nothing? I say it wasn't for nothing. There were mistakes, but that period created the most educated, most connected generation in Afghan history. Girls now know their rights.'

This month, the EU is preparing talks with Taliban representatives in Brussels. Doucet is cautious: 'My job is to explain, not advocate. Some mediators say it's better to negotiate than isolate. The only change will have to come from within the Taliban.'

For now, little change is visible. But Doucet clings to a quality Afghans prize: 'Afghans always used to say: the last to die is hope. Afghanistan has lived through every political system—the thread through Afghan history is that nothing lasts forever.'