On Feb 28, 2023, I was delighted to receive an email from my friend Khalid Ramizy, a longtime advocate of liberty and human rights in Afghanistan, about a new edition of my Cato Institute book: Why, As a Muslim, I Defend Liberty. It was now available in Dari, the most widely spoken language in Afghanistan, right in the heart of Kabul:
“I am writing this email to share the great news with you that your book is printed and now available all over Afghanistan and hopefully very soon we will send some copies to Iran and Tajikistan too. I attached a few photos which shows your book on bookshelf of Vazha Publication at Kabul and now the book is available in all bookstores of Afghanistan.”
The book was published by the Afghanistan Economic and Legal Studies Organization (AELSO), which was founded in 2009 by Khalid and a group of his friends. It is an NGO that envisions “a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan, where every citizen lives a free and dignified life, and every institution operates under the rule of law and based on the ideas of a free society.”
As you could guess, these are not ideas of which the Taliban are particularity fond. That is why, after the Taliban’s military takeover some eighteen months ago, Khalid had to leave the country immediately. (Yes, in one of those military planes that you saw then in the news.) After months of legal limbo here and there, he recently came to the United States, as a Research Scholar at the Center for Governance and Markets of University of Pittsburgh.
Yet some of Khalid’s colleagues and affiliates remained back in Afghanistan, which is how the publication of this book was possible, despite some real risks. It was translated by S. Farjam, who did not openly write his or her full name, due to these concerns. I truly admire their courage to publish this book during such a challenging time in Afghanistan.
Will the Taliban really allow this book to be freely sold and read in Afghanistan?
I asked that question to Khalid a while ago. He said, “We will see, it can circulate at least for a while.” And if it gets banned, he added, there is always the internet to share it digitally.
So, keep fingers crossed for the Afghanistan edition of Why, As a Muslim, I Defend Liberty. And join me in praying for the safety of the brave Afghanis who made this possible.
