<p>The problem with this publication, a bookseller in the Afghan capital Kabul explains, is not so much that it's by Michelle Obama, but that she's not wearing a hijab in the cover photo.</p>.<p>The former US first lady's memoir "Becoming" goes back on the stack, ready for a curious reader.</p>.<p>The Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement seized the city in August and have declared Afghanistan an Islamic Emirate.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/afghan-girls-learn-code-underground-to-bypass-taliban-curbs-1044909.html">Afghan girls learn, code 'underground' to bypass Taliban curbs </a></strong></p>.<p>They have not yet ordered bookshops shut nor imposed censorship, but a climate of tension prevails and an economic crisis has hit takings.</p>.<p>Near the university, Kabul's book market was once a fashionable haven for the young intellectual crowd, but now around half the stores and stalls are closed.</p>.<p>Others are open, but readers are left in the dark as lights are turned off to save electricity.</p>.<p>Abdul Amin Hossaini, a middle-aged bookseller in a knit pullover and heavy square spectacles, tells AFP that business was good before the fall of the city.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/taliban-government-offers-afghans-wheat-for-work-as-money-dwindles-1044760.html" target="_blank">Taliban government offers Afghans wheat for work as money dwindles</a></strong></p>.<p>"We had at least 50 customers or books sold a day, now it's almost nothing," he says.</p>.<p>"I was beginning my dream to start a publishing company for children's books," he adds, describing how he was writing books about the lives of his two daughters.</p>.<p>Under the previous Taliban regime between 1996 and 2001, sellers of books they regarded as "profane" were forced to close, and some were ransacked.</p>.<p>In the two months since their return, the movement's fighters have not directly troubled the booksellers of Kabul's Pol-e-Sorkh district, but the fear remains.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/mullah-omars-son-on-tv-as-taliban-polish-public-image-1044744.html" target="_blank">Mullah Omar's son on TV as Taliban polish public image</a></strong></p>.<p>One stallholder, who preferred to remain anonymous, told AFP that he had withdrawn the popular works of reformist Iranian theologian Abdolkarim Soroush from the sale.</p>.<p>But in Saadat Books, which specialises in English-language texts, the selection is eclectic.</p>.<p>Alongside a dusty copy of Gustave Flaubert's masterpiece "Madame Bovary," there are seedy tales from Los Angeles by the transgressive German-American poet and author Charles Bukowski.</p>.<p>Stacks of science fiction lie alongside works on human evolution by Israeli intellectual Yuval Noah Harari.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/anger-over-men-only-foreign-delegations-to-meet-taliban-1044604.html">Anger over men-only foreign delegations to meet Taliban</a></strong></p>.<p>"I am very surprised it's still open," admits customer Mustafa Barak, a 23-year-old law student, who comes every week to satisfy his passion for ideas.</p>.<p>"I just want to continue to learn new things, to improve my knowledge, to have an intellectual life," he says.</p>.<p>"We are in this situation because we can't read. Knowledge is what is left to us to try to fight this."</p>.<p>On this visit, he chose a book on personal development, "The Art of Thinking Clearly" by Swiss entrepreneur Rolf Dobelli.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/women-protest-worlds-silence-over-crisis-in-afghanistan-1044333.html" target="_blank">Women protest world's 'silence' over crisis in Afghanistan</a></strong></p>.<p>Kabul's most famous bookshop, the Shah M Book Co, has been nicknamed Afghanistan's "national archive".</p>.<p>Its proprietor since 1974, Shah Muhammad Rais, left for London on a business visa in September, though he intends to return.</p>.<p>But the premises in Kabul remain open, as they did under previous changes in regime.</p>.<p>Rais' story inspired a bestseller by Norwegian writer Asne Seierstad, "The Bookseller of Kabul", but his famous store has so far not attracted the attention of the new Taliban regime.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/how-ethnic-and-religious-divides-in-afghanistan-are-contributing-to-violence-against-minorities-1044280.html" target="_blank">How ethnic and religious divides in Afghanistan are contributing to violence against minorities</a></strong></p>.<p>In the low-ceilinged corridors, more than 17,000 titles in English, Dari, Farsi and Pashto recount the history of Afghanistan -- many of them rare treasures, available for online sale.</p>.<p>"We stay open because we are keeping the heritage of the Afghan people, and a way for them to be able to study it," says Suleiman Shah, the manager.</p>.<p>"Even the government doesn't have the archives and books on the country that we have. We are the memory of this country."</p>.<p>A day earlier, two Taliban members in civilian clothes visited for the first time in two decades.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/how-ethnic-and-religious-divides-in-afghanistan-are-contributing-to-violence-against-minorities-1044280.html" target="_blank">What is the future of ethnic groups in Afghanistan now that Taliban is back in power?</a></strong></p>.<p>"They were looking for something I didn't have, a religious book," Shah says.</p>.<p>The missing book was the Ya-Sin, the 36th Surah that warns of the fate awaiting non-believers and of the limitless power of God to protect the faithful and to promise their resurrection. It is sometimes known as the heart of the Koran.</p>.<p>"They looked quickly around the shop," the manager says of the Taliban's visit. "They stopped at the postcard stand, they wanted to make sure I had nothing romantic."</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>
<p>The problem with this publication, a bookseller in the Afghan capital Kabul explains, is not so much that it's by Michelle Obama, but that she's not wearing a hijab in the cover photo.</p>.<p>The former US first lady's memoir "Becoming" goes back on the stack, ready for a curious reader.</p>.<p>The Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement seized the city in August and have declared Afghanistan an Islamic Emirate.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/afghan-girls-learn-code-underground-to-bypass-taliban-curbs-1044909.html">Afghan girls learn, code 'underground' to bypass Taliban curbs </a></strong></p>.<p>They have not yet ordered bookshops shut nor imposed censorship, but a climate of tension prevails and an economic crisis has hit takings.</p>.<p>Near the university, Kabul's book market was once a fashionable haven for the young intellectual crowd, but now around half the stores and stalls are closed.</p>.<p>Others are open, but readers are left in the dark as lights are turned off to save electricity.</p>.<p>Abdul Amin Hossaini, a middle-aged bookseller in a knit pullover and heavy square spectacles, tells AFP that business was good before the fall of the city.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/taliban-government-offers-afghans-wheat-for-work-as-money-dwindles-1044760.html" target="_blank">Taliban government offers Afghans wheat for work as money dwindles</a></strong></p>.<p>"We had at least 50 customers or books sold a day, now it's almost nothing," he says.</p>.<p>"I was beginning my dream to start a publishing company for children's books," he adds, describing how he was writing books about the lives of his two daughters.</p>.<p>Under the previous Taliban regime between 1996 and 2001, sellers of books they regarded as "profane" were forced to close, and some were ransacked.</p>.<p>In the two months since their return, the movement's fighters have not directly troubled the booksellers of Kabul's Pol-e-Sorkh district, but the fear remains.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/mullah-omars-son-on-tv-as-taliban-polish-public-image-1044744.html" target="_blank">Mullah Omar's son on TV as Taliban polish public image</a></strong></p>.<p>One stallholder, who preferred to remain anonymous, told AFP that he had withdrawn the popular works of reformist Iranian theologian Abdolkarim Soroush from the sale.</p>.<p>But in Saadat Books, which specialises in English-language texts, the selection is eclectic.</p>.<p>Alongside a dusty copy of Gustave Flaubert's masterpiece "Madame Bovary," there are seedy tales from Los Angeles by the transgressive German-American poet and author Charles Bukowski.</p>.<p>Stacks of science fiction lie alongside works on human evolution by Israeli intellectual Yuval Noah Harari.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/anger-over-men-only-foreign-delegations-to-meet-taliban-1044604.html">Anger over men-only foreign delegations to meet Taliban</a></strong></p>.<p>"I am very surprised it's still open," admits customer Mustafa Barak, a 23-year-old law student, who comes every week to satisfy his passion for ideas.</p>.<p>"I just want to continue to learn new things, to improve my knowledge, to have an intellectual life," he says.</p>.<p>"We are in this situation because we can't read. Knowledge is what is left to us to try to fight this."</p>.<p>On this visit, he chose a book on personal development, "The Art of Thinking Clearly" by Swiss entrepreneur Rolf Dobelli.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/women-protest-worlds-silence-over-crisis-in-afghanistan-1044333.html" target="_blank">Women protest world's 'silence' over crisis in Afghanistan</a></strong></p>.<p>Kabul's most famous bookshop, the Shah M Book Co, has been nicknamed Afghanistan's "national archive".</p>.<p>Its proprietor since 1974, Shah Muhammad Rais, left for London on a business visa in September, though he intends to return.</p>.<p>But the premises in Kabul remain open, as they did under previous changes in regime.</p>.<p>Rais' story inspired a bestseller by Norwegian writer Asne Seierstad, "The Bookseller of Kabul", but his famous store has so far not attracted the attention of the new Taliban regime.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/how-ethnic-and-religious-divides-in-afghanistan-are-contributing-to-violence-against-minorities-1044280.html" target="_blank">How ethnic and religious divides in Afghanistan are contributing to violence against minorities</a></strong></p>.<p>In the low-ceilinged corridors, more than 17,000 titles in English, Dari, Farsi and Pashto recount the history of Afghanistan -- many of them rare treasures, available for online sale.</p>.<p>"We stay open because we are keeping the heritage of the Afghan people, and a way for them to be able to study it," says Suleiman Shah, the manager.</p>.<p>"Even the government doesn't have the archives and books on the country that we have. We are the memory of this country."</p>.<p>A day earlier, two Taliban members in civilian clothes visited for the first time in two decades.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/how-ethnic-and-religious-divides-in-afghanistan-are-contributing-to-violence-against-minorities-1044280.html" target="_blank">What is the future of ethnic groups in Afghanistan now that Taliban is back in power?</a></strong></p>.<p>"They were looking for something I didn't have, a religious book," Shah says.</p>.<p>The missing book was the Ya-Sin, the 36th Surah that warns of the fate awaiting non-believers and of the limitless power of God to protect the faithful and to promise their resurrection. It is sometimes known as the heart of the Koran.</p>.<p>"They looked quickly around the shop," the manager says of the Taliban's visit. "They stopped at the postcard stand, they wanted to make sure I had nothing romantic."</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>