When Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Rod Nordland had an opportunity to interview Zakia and Ali, two Afghan teenagers whose families threatened their lives because they were in love, he saw an opportunity to learn about Afghanistan's tradition of honor killings. Yet what was meant to be a single interview became more. While the country is no longer under the complete control of the Taliban, its people are unable to escape the Taliban's malicious and harmful attitudes, particularly toward women. Thus Zakia's family considered her to be property, and when she pursued her relationship with Ali, a youth from a different ethnic group, her family went mad with rage, forcing Zakia to take refuge in a woman's shelter. This is where Nordland first interviewed her months later.
When Nordland published an article on the couple in the New York Times, it unleashed a torrent of concern around the world for Zakia and Ali. Many readers felt he was responsible for exposing the young lovers to greater harm and was obligated to help them escape it, though this might contravene his journalistic objectivity. Others wanted to help them escape. Nordland was faced with a decision: leave the article as a standalone piece and not risk the lives of Ali and Zakia any further, or follow their story to garner more international attention and help. Ultimately, Nordland reached out with a larger group of journalists to record their ongoing struggle, and while he hopes his articles will give Zakia and Ali a better chance at being together, he ends up playing a more direct role in their survival. --Justus Joseph, bookseller at Elliott Bay Book Company