the wasted vigil (w. nadeem aslam)

Afghanistan. A few months ago, the word was on everyone’s lips. The country had fallen for a second time to the Taliban and the consequences, we were assured, were going to be terrible. Then the news cycle moved on and the consequences became almost invisible. So far as can be discerned from news feeds, the consequences have, indeed, proved to be terrible, but no-one is looking.

Nadeem Aslam, a British Pakistani writer, is probably an exception to that last phrase. In a search for literature about Afghanistan I was directed to his book, not knowing where the writer was from. But as a primer for how to understand the last thirty or indeed three thousand years of Afghan history, The Wasted Vigil is a vital starting point. It’s also a coruscating read, skilfully woven, full of portending dread. Which is entirely justified and, so far as we can discern, is even more justified today, 14 years after the book was published.

The book tells the story of four characters. Marcus, a British man who has converted to Islam, whose wife was killed by the Taliban. David, a former CIA agent who fell in love with Marcus’ daughter, Zameen, who was herself killed by an Afghan. Lara, a Russian woman who is searching for her brother, a Soviet soldier by whom Zameen had a child, who might still be alive. Lastly, Casa, a Taliban soldier, who finds himself holed up with these three foreigners in a remote but beautiful part of the country. Each character reflects a different element of Afghanistan’s recent history and their fate is constantly in jeopardy. A sense of dread lurks over the book and its characters: it feels as though none can possibly emerge unscathed.

Aslam peppers his tale with anecdotes and a vast knowledge of Muslim history and religion. Beside offering an insight into the Koran, it gives insights into Afghani history, gem stones, Buddhism, sacred art of the region and much much more. It is, in a way, a treasure trove of knowledge and information, albeit a Pandora’s box kind of treasure trove, one that once opens seems to send the world into a tailspin from which it will never emerge.

As is indeed the case. Even if the characters featured in the novel were to have survived, it seems impossible that recent events would not have now caught up with them and that their survival then was only postponing the inevitable. How the Americans and the British and the Russians and the Pakistanis and probably many others have managed to fuck up Afghanistan. Doubtless they have had help from Afghanis too, but The Wasted Vigil succeeds in harrowing style in showing how geo-politics impacts on individuals of all colours and creeds.