Author Kim Barker says Afghan people yearn for war to end

The people of Afghanistan are exhausted by the constant state of warfare in the country and yearn for its conclusion, regardless of who is winning, the author of a new book told an audience at the National Press Club on March 24.

Kim Barker called her book Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan “a darkly funny story.” In the book, she recounts her experiences as a Chicago Tribune correspondent and as a woman in the countries from 2002 to 2009.

Using the Kabul Zoo as a metaphor for wars from the Soviet invasion to the present, she noted that the zoo barely survived. Most of the animals were killed or died of starvation.

She said the Afghan people are tired of war and would support whoever was winning. She said what they want most is “just to stop the war.”

Even though she covered harrowing events, Barker said she would enthusiastically return to the region. “Believe it or not, I miss the people and my colleagues,” she said.

Previous to her overseas assignment as the South Asian bureau chief for The Chicago Tribune, where she worked from 2001 to 2009, Barker worked for The Spokesman Review and The Seattle Times.

Currently, Miss Barker is an investigative reporter for ProPublica, a non-profit and independent news organization in New York City.

Being a woman worked to her advantage, she said, because the local people were more willing to confide in her than a male reporter.

-- Additional reporting by Susan Bainbridge, [email protected]