A new book by a veteran international journalist uses the history of Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel to trace decades of political upheaval in Afghanistan, while highlighting the experiences of ordinary Afghans who lived through successive governments, conflicts and social transformations.

The author argues that Afghanistan’s modern history is marked by repeated cycles of change and uncertainty, yet many Afghans continue to hold on to a belief that no political system is permanent. That sense of resilience, she says, remains one of the defining characteristics of the country despite the challenges facing its people.

“Afghans always used to say: the last to die is hope,” she said during an interview discussing the book. “Afghanistan has possibly lived through every political system the world has tried. The thread through Afghan history is that nothing lasts forever.”

At the centre of the narrative are employees of Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel, one of the country’s most recognisable landmarks. Through their personal accounts, the book documents how political changes shaped everyday life across generations.

Among those featured are a longtime housekeeper who worked at the hotel from its opening, one of its first female chefs, an engineer responsible for maintaining the property through periods of conflict and instability, and one of the hotel’s pioneering female waiters.

Their experiences provide a perspective on Afghanistan’s recent history that extends beyond political leaders and military campaigns.The author said documenting those stories required the trust and cooperation of Afghans who were willing to speak despite potential risks.

“I have to pay tribute to the Afghans who helped me and spoke to me for the book, because in Afghanistan even sharing stories can have risks,” she said.The journalist began her reporting career as a freelance correspondent in West Africa before joining the BBC and covering conflicts and political developments around the world.

She later became the broadcaster’s chief international correspondent, reporting from some of the most significant geopolitical events of recent decades.Her latest book opens with the collapse of the internationally backed Afghan government in August 2021 and the return of the Taliban to power following the withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces.

The fall of Kabul and the chaotic evacuation that followed form a central part of the narrative.Recalling the scenes at Kabul airport, she described a period marked by fear, confusion and desperation as thousands attempted to leave the country.“There was this fear at the end,” she said.

“People kept talking about Vietnam. In fact, it was a hundred times worse.”She remembered military transport aircraft, helicopters and large crowds carrying only essential belongings as they sought evacuation. Images of Afghans clinging to departing aircraft became some of the most widely circulated photographs of the withdrawal and drew international scrutiny over the manner of the exit.

The events of August 2021 remain among the defining moments of her reporting career and continue to shape international debate over the consequences of two decades of foreign military involvement in Afghanistan.Since regaining power, the Taliban administration has introduced a series of restrictions affecting women and girls.

Secondary education and university access for girls have been suspended, while women have been excluded from many forms of employment and public participation. Additional regulations have imposed strict dress requirements and further limited women’s visibility in public life.The journalist described the situation as one of the most pressing human rights concerns facing Afghanistan today.

“Five years in and it is getting worse. It is a stain on our world,” she said.Despite those restrictions, she said Afghan women continue to demonstrate remarkable resilience and determination in the face of mounting obstacles.She also expressed concern about challenges faced by Afghan women outside the country, particularly those seeking educational opportunities abroad.

While scholarship programmes remain available in some cases, she noted that visa barriers and immigration restrictions have prevented many students from pursuing studies overseas.“There are Afghan women getting scholarships, but there are no visas now to allow Afghan women to come and study in Britain and in many other places,” she said.

According to the author, many Afghans who once held prominent roles in journalism, civil society, education and public service have been forced to rebuild their lives from the beginning after leaving the country.“People who were somebody in Afghanistan — activists, world-class journalists — find themselves having to start again from scratch,” she said.

The displacement of professionals and educated workers has contributed to concerns among international observers about the long-term impact on Afghanistan’s social and economic development.At the same time, the author cautioned against viewing the entire period between 2001 and 2021 solely through the lens of its final outcome.

She argued that the years of international engagement produced significant changes in education, media, civil society and opportunities for women, even if many of those gains are now under pressure.She said debates about whether two decades of foreign involvement achieved meaningful results often overlook the experiences of millions of Afghans whose lives changed during that period.

“People often say: what did 20 years of international engagement achieve? Was it all for nothing?” she said. “I always say it wasn’t for nothing.”Through the story of one hotel and the people who kept it operating across decades of turmoil, the book seeks to document those experiences and preserve the voices of Afghans whose lives intersected with some of the most significant events in the country’s modern history.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, an Indian traveler identified as Cikai Korran journeyed thousands of kilometers from the Indian subcontinent to Egypt and left his name inscribed across multiple royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

Researchers say the discovery of his inscriptions, along with nearly 30 others written in South Asian languages, is providing new evidence of the extent to which ancient India was connected to the wider Mediterranean world during the Roman era.

The findings emerged after researchers identified inscriptions written in Old Tamil, Sanskrit, Prakrit and Gandhari-Kharosthi inside six tombs in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, one of the most significant archaeological sites of the ancient world.

The inscriptions date to between the first and third centuries CE and suggest that Indian travelers not only reached Egypt’s Red Sea ports but also ventured deep into the country’s interior.The discovery began in January 2024 when Ingo Strauch, a professor at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, noticed markings on tomb walls that appeared different from the Greek and Latin graffiti long documented by scholars.

After photographing the inscriptions and examining them further, Strauch consulted Charlotte Schmid of the French School of Asian Studies in Paris. Schmid confirmed that some of the texts were written in Old Tamil.Together, the researchers documented nearly 30 inscriptions across six tombs.

Their findings were presented in February 2026 at the International Conference on Tamil Epigraphy in Chennai, adding a new chapter to the understanding of cultural and commercial exchanges between India and Egypt during the Roman period.

Among all the inscriptions discovered, those attributed to Cikai Korran have attracted particular attention. Researchers identified eight separate inscriptions bearing his name across five different tombs, making him the most prolific Indian visitor currently known from the site.

According to the researchers, Korran appeared determined to ensure his presence would be remembered. Several of his inscriptions were placed in highly visible but difficult-to-reach locations. One inscription inside the tomb of Ramesses IX was found approximately 16 to 20 feet above the entrance, raising questions about how he managed to access the location.

Schmid noted during the conference presentation that the placement of the inscription was unusual. The elevated position suggests a deliberate effort to make the inscription stand out from the hundreds of other marks left by visitors over centuries.Korran also inscribed his name at the entrances of the tombs of Tausret and Setnakhte.

Researchers found that his was the only known graffiti at those locations, leading to speculation that the tombs may still have been sealed or largely inaccessible when he visited.The inscriptions themselves were simple.

Researchers said they effectively stated that Cikai Korran had visited and seen the site, mirroring a practice common among Greek-speaking travelers who left similar messages throughout the Valley of the Kings. The similarity suggests Indian visitors were familiar with local customs and participated in shared cultural practices while traveling through Roman Egypt.

Another inscription identified by researchers belonged to a man named Indranandin, who described himself as a messenger of the Kshaharata dynasty, a ruling power in parts of western India during the first century CE. Researchers believe he may have traveled through the Egyptian port of Berenike before continuing inland and potentially onward toward Rome.

The inscriptions also provide evidence that some Indian travelers possessed significant linguistic and cultural knowledge. Researchers found examples where Indian-language inscriptions appeared to respond directly to nearby Greek texts. According to Schmid, the writers demonstrated awareness of a shared cultural environment and showed familiarity with multiple languages used across the eastern Mediterranean.

Such multilingual engagement suggests these travelers were more than transient merchants. Instead, they appear to have been active participants in the cosmopolitan society that developed around Roman Egypt’s trade networks, which connected Africa, the Mediterranean, Arabia and South Asia.Historians have long known that commercial links connected India and Egypt during the Roman era.

Egyptian ports on the Red Sea served as major gateways for trade between the Mediterranean world and the Indian Ocean. Previous discoveries of Indian inscriptions at Berenike and on the island of Socotra had already established the presence of South Asian merchants and travelers in the region.Archaeological evidence from Berenike has further reinforced those connections.

Studies have identified rice consumption, Indian ceramics, glass beads, textiles and botanical remains, indicating sustained interaction between communities from the Indian subcontinent and residents of Roman Egypt. Researchers have also documented earlier Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions at the port, demonstrating that Indian visitors were present centuries before the newly identified Valley of the Kings texts were recognized.

The significance of the latest discovery lies in its geographic reach. While previous evidence largely focused on ports and commercial centers, the Valley of the Kings inscriptions demonstrate that Indian travelers moved well beyond coastal settlements and visited some of Egypt’s most important cultural and religious landmarks.

Researchers say the inscriptions had technically been known for decades but remained unidentified. More than 2,000 Greek and Latin graffiti from the Valley of the Kings were cataloged by scholars after French researcher Jules Baillet documented them in 1926. However, specialists working on Egyptian archaeology rarely collaborated with experts in South Asian languages, allowing the Indian inscriptions to go unnoticed.

Egyptologist Steve Harvey said the texts were overlooked because researchers lacked the linguistic expertise needed to recognize them. While Greek and Aramaic inscriptions received considerable scholarly attention, the South Asian material remained largely unexamined.Strauch said the findings demonstrate that visitors from Tamil-speaking regions and other parts of India did more than arrive at Egyptian ports and depart again.

The evidence suggests they spent enough time in the country to travel considerable distances and visit sites of historical and cultural importance.The researchers believe the discovery may represent only a fraction of the Indian presence in ancient Egypt.

Strauch said the inscriptions reveal the integration of people from across the Indian subcontinent into Roman Egyptian society and increase the likelihood that additional Indian-language inscriptions and artifacts remain to be discovered elsewhere in the country.Alexandra von Lieven, professor of Egyptology at the University of Münster, said the texts indicate not only that Indians traveled to Egypt but that they also showed a genuine interest in Egyptian culture.

She suggested future investigations may uncover similar inscriptions at temples and other archaeological sites throughout the country.The collection of inscriptions left by Cikai Korran and other Indian travelers is reshaping scholarly understanding of ancient mobility, demonstrating that cultural exchange between South Asia and Egypt extended far beyond commerce and reached some of the most iconic monuments of the ancient world.

A remarkable literary discovery in Rome has brought one of the oldest surviving works in the English language back into scholarly focus, as researchers from Trinity College Dublin uncovered a previously unknown manuscript of Caedmon’s Hymn, a seventh-century Old English poem believed to be the earliest surviving English poem.

The manuscript, hidden for centuries within the holdings of the National Central Library of Rome, contains a version of the famous nine-line hymn composed by Caedmon, an illiterate cattle herder from Northumbria whose story was first recorded by the medieval monk and historian Bede in the eighth century.

The discovery is being hailed by medieval scholars as one of the most significant literary finds in recent years, not only because of the poem’s age but because of the unique form in which it survives. Unlike older known copies, where the Old English text appeared only as marginal notes beside Latin text, the Rome manuscript places the Old English version in the main body of the manuscript itself evidence of the growing prestige of English as a written language during the early medieval period.

Researchers Elisabetta Magnanti and Mark Faulkner made the discovery while investigating conflicting records about manuscripts linked to Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, one of the foundational texts of early English history.Magnanti, a specialist in medieval manuscripts, requested the Roman library to check its archives for overlooked documents.

Library staff located the manuscript, digitised it, and sent the images to Dublin. When the scholars examined the pages, they immediately realised they had found something extraordinary.“When we saw it, we looked at each other and I said, ‘No one knows about this,’” Magnanti recalled. “To make sure I wasn’t dreaming, I double-checked the catalogues and there was no mention of it.

It was a huge surprise.”Experts believe the manuscript was copied by a monk in northern Italy sometime between AD 800 and AD 830, making it around 1,200 years old. It is now considered the third-oldest surviving version of the poem, following even earlier copies preserved in Cambridge and St Petersburg.The significance of the Rome version lies not only in its age but in what it reveals about language and literary culture.

According to Faulkner, the decision to place the Old English text within the central manuscript rather than on the margins suggests that English poetry had achieved a new level of importance among early readers.“The absence of the poem would have been felt by the readers,” Faulkner explained. “That is why it goes in.”The manuscript also offers fascinating clues about the evolution of written English.

Every word in the poem is separated by a full stop, showing that scribes were still experimenting with systems of spacing and punctuation. In the early medieval world, texts were often written continuously without spaces between words, making reading a more demanding skill.

Faulkner noted that the punctuation reflects a transitional moment in writing practices. “It is part of the early development of ways of dividing words and shows text starting to come towards the presentation of English that we know today,” he said.Caedmon himself remains a legendary figure in English literary history.

According to Bede, he worked as a cattle herder at Whitby Abbey and was unable to read or write. One night, after reportedly receiving a divine vision, he was inspired to compose and sing a hymn praising God’s creation of the world.

That poem became known as Caedmon’s Hymn, a brief but powerful expression of Christian devotion and poetic skill. Bede included a Latin translation of the work in his historical writings but omitted the original Old English version.

Later scribes, however, ensured that the original language survived.Within a century, a monk connected to the abbey of Nonantola in northern Italy included the Old English text in a manuscript, preserving what many scholars now regard as the first known English poem.

The newly identified Rome manuscript strengthens the evidence of how widely respected the poem had become across medieval Europe. Despite being written in Old English, far from Italy’s linguistic world, the poem was carefully copied and preserved by continental monks.

“There are at least 160 surviving copies of Bede’s history,” Faulkner said, adding that the continued transmission of Caedmon’s work shows how much early readers valued English poetry.

The findings have been published in Early Medieval England and its Neighbours, an open-access academic journal issued by Cambridge University Press. Scholars believe the discovery may prompt renewed study of neglected manuscript collections across Europe, particularly as libraries continue large-scale digitisation efforts.

Andrea Cappa, head of manuscripts and rare books at the Roman library, said the institution is working to digitise holdings from Italy’s National Centre for the Study of the Manuscript, a project expected to make more than 40 million images available to researchers worldwide.

Magnanti described the discovery as proof of how digital access is transforming scholarship. Without digitisation, the manuscript may have remained unnoticed for decades longer.“This discovery is a testament to the power of libraries to facilitate new research by digitising their collections and making them freely available online,” she said.

For literary historians, the recovery of the manuscript is more than an archival triumph it is a rare glimpse into the birth of English literature itself.The modern poet Paul Muldoon translated the hymn into contemporary English in 2016, capturing its timeless reverence:“Now we must praise to the skies, the Keeper of the heavenly kingdom, The might of the Measurer, all he has in mind, The work of the Father of Glory, of all manner of marvel.”

Across thirteen centuries, Caedmon’s voice once believed lost to time has spoken again.

Five days after Montgomery’s forces clinched their victory over Rommel over in Egypt, the Allies defeated their opponents in Morocco and Algeria on November 16.

On November 8,1942, the Western Allies launched Operation Torch, landing in Vichy-controlled Morocco and Algeria to open up a second front in World War II. Torch was a paradoxical operation: The Allies won in just over a week, but losses were relatively high as the operation provided harsh lessons to be learned ahead of the D-Day landings 18 months later.

Opinions are frequently expressed by historians on the role of Indian Muslims in the national movement which tend to prove that there was a general tendency among the Muslim leaders to preach the gospel of separation right from revolt of 1857 to the achievement of freedom in 1947.

It is said that Muslim antagonism to the Freedom Movement of India dates back to its beginning itself and that ‘Islam can never allow a true Muslim to adopt India as his motherland. It is also presumed that this tendency was ultimately responsible for the partition of the country in 1947 and this ‘ideology of separatism’ has influenced the Muslim masses so intensely that they were not satisfied by the concessions granted to them by the majority community and these concessions only created a superficial contentment resulting into fresh demands till they were successful in achieving the goal – a separate homeland.

READ NEXT ARTICLE: From Wahabi Movement to 1857 Revolt: Muslims in India’s Freedom Struggle

The result of all this has been the campaign of hatred and the press propaganda against the Muslims. But the reality is totally different, for example Allah Baksh – a great Muslim leader who opposed two nation theory. It is true that the Muslim League’s juggernaut was successful in achieving its objective of dividing India on communal lines but it is also true that all Muslims did not subscribe to its philosophy (majority of Muslims chose to remain in India on the eve of partition).

After the attainment of independence it was hoped that our intellectuals would say good-bye to the British historiography of infusing communal politics and sowing the seeds of dissension between the two communities in India and usher in the golden age of freedom. But it was a vain hope.

Contrary to the expectations, the role of Indian Muslims in the national movement has not been given adequate coverage in the press or books. It has either been sidetracked or referred to here and there by scholars. Instead of factual and secular historiography it has been communalized. The contribution of Muslim revolutionaries, poets and prose writers is not known today.

Similarly scarcely is known about the contribution of Muhammad Ashfaq Ullah Khan of Shahjehanpur who conspired and looted the British treasury at Kakori (Lucknow) to cripple the administration and who, when asked for his last will, before execution, desired: “No desire is left except one that someone may put a little soil of my motherland in my winding sheet”.

Rewind

In this series we will explore important freedom struggle movements and key personalities who led them. This nation belongs to Muslims as it belongs to other religious denominations. Muslims sacrifice cannot be undermined and it cannot be hidden in darkness from the pages of history.

The Beginning of the struggle in the 18^th century

India succumbed to anarchy towards the close of the 18^th century. Taking advantage of the chaos and the vaccum caused by the fall of the central authority the British carved out a place for themselves, which they retained for more than a century. But the sons of India were not altogether lacking in patriotic sentiments.

Nawab Sirajjuddaula of Bengal had the foresight to clearly realize the menace latent in British expansion and tried to check it. He marched to Calcutta and captured Fort William on June 20, 1756. But he was betrayed by the unfaithful General and got defeated in the battle of Plassey. [Ref: K.M. Yusuf; Muslims and the Freedom Struggle in the Illustrated Weekly of India. January 28, 1973, p.44]

In the South Sultan Haider Ali, the ruler of Mysore, was not easily to yield to any foreign power. The impression that Haider Ali has left on history is that of a great fighter against the British.

Tipu Sultan who succeeded his father (Haider Ali) proved a much harder nut to crack. At a time when most of the Indian rulers were incapable of understanding the consequences. He adopted western techniques in his army, sent envoys to Turkey in 1784-85 and to France in 1787-88, to Zaman Shah of Afghanistan in 1876 and in 1799 which was intercepted by the British. Instead of looking backward, he lavishly borrowed both from the contemporary revolutionary ideas of the French Revolution of 1789 and from the military sciences of Napolean. His ‘Ahmadi’ contingent of Muslim neo-converts was modeled on the most modern European pattern and resembled the Janisearies of the Ottoman Turks rather than the army  of the Moghul nobles. [Ref: K.M. Ashraf, ‘Muslim Revivalists and Revolt of 1857 in Rebellion of 1857-A Symposium ed. P.C. Joshi, p.73]

A man of limited resources cannot face a well-equipped army for long. Had Tipu Sultan agreed to become a vassal of the English East India Company, he would have saved his kingdom. But he was a patriot and defied the British even with his handful of army and fell fighting among the hundreds of dead in defence of his motherland.

Paying tribute to Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, Dr. R.C. Majumdar rightly says, “of all the Indian ruling princes of this period, Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan were the most uncompromising opponents of the growth of British Political Power in India, and they realized more than others the great peril which it meant to India. Their sturdy love of independence, and particularly the scornful rejection of Subsidiary Alliance by Tipu Sultan, distinguished them from contemporary ruling family.”

Resistance by Muslim Fakhirs Against The British

The British were resisted not only by the rulers and princes, they were also opposed by Sanyasis and Fakirs. Dr. Tara Chand says that, “A somewhat usual source of trouble for the British rulers was the movement of Muslim Faquirs.” [Ref: History of the Freedom Movement in India vol.II (New Delhi, 1967), p.10]

Their leader was Majnun Shah who appeared in Bengal with his son Chiragh Ali Shah as early as 1772 with about two thousand followers. Majnun Shah played a vital role in the initial stages of freedom struggle. He, as a man of immense potential and in spite of his adverse circumstances, fought bravely against the British and many a times General Mackenzie had to suffer at his hands. The armed activities of Majnun Shah continued and in December 1786 he assaulted an army led by Lt. Brenan in which Majnun Shah got injuries and died a few months after.

In 1783 there was a formidable rising in Rangpur. It assumed the character of an armed peasant rebellion in which both Hindus and Muslim peasants stood to face the British. [Ref: Narahari Kaviraj, ‘Peasant and Adivasi Uprisings (1765-1885) in Challenge: A Saga of India’s Struggle for Freedom, (New Delhi) p.115]

Faraizi Movement

Next came the Faraizi Movement founded by Pir Shariatullah (1781-1840) of Faridpur who preached a revolutionary doctrine against the British in 1804.  At the age of 18 he had gone to Makkah and settled their and he returned to India in 1802 he found it Dar-ul-Harb (a land of war). Hence, it was their farz (duty) to oust the British and thus it assumed the name Faraizi Movement.

His son, Moulvi Muhammad Muslim better known as Dadu Mian (1819-1859) who was more political minded, organized the movement by dividing Bengal strategically for the expulsion of the British. [Ref: Abdul Bari, ‘The Reform Movement in Bengal’ in A History of Freedom Movement, Vol.I (published by Pakistan Historical Society, Karachi, 1957), pp.542-666. See also Tara Chand, History of Freedom Movement in India, Vol.II (NewDelhi, 1967), p.10 ]

Meer Nisar Ali alias Titu Miyan of Chandpur (Barasat) who was in command of the Faraizi army, he was defeated by British forces and captured, tried and sent to Andamans. After the fall of Titu Miyan, Dadu Miyan, during 1840-47 raised an army of 80,000 soldiers and fought against the British at Baramat, Jaisoor, Patna, Dhaka,Malda but could not gain an upper hand. He was tried and imprisoned at the Alipur Jail. He died in 1859 a few days after his release.

Barasat Risings

Inspired by the efforts of Titu Miyan and Dadu Miyan thousands of oppressed peasants rose like a man against the British planters as passive resisters. This came to be known as Barasat Risings.

Satyamay Ray writes: “The revolts of Barasat and Faridpur under the leadership of Nisar Ali (Titu Miyan) and Muhammad Muslim (Dadu Miyan) respectively were the inaugural music, as it were, of the Indian liberation struggle.” [Ref: Santimay Ray, ‘The Army in Indian Freedom Struggle’ in Challenge: A Saga of India’s Struggle for Freedom, op. cit, p.538]

This article is a part of series to highlight the sacrifices of Muslims in liberating India from the British-raj.

Imtiaz Ahmed is a founding member and CEO of Illume Academy. The Academy is a youth centric learning forum, deploying all possible innovative teaching techniques in molding youth to be decisive thinkers with sound character, and effective leaders.