Perched on a Kabul hilltop, the Inter-Continental Hotel was built to embody modern Afghanistan—then spent decades surviving everything that tried to erase it. In The Finest Hotel in Kabul, BBC correspondent Lyse Doucet tells the country’s recent history through one building and the people who kept it running: the young manager trying to stay calm as the Taliban closes in, the chef fighting to keep her family afloat, the waiter reassuring daughters who fear they’ll lose school, and the veteran staff who have served kings, communists, warlords, and Taliban alike.
From glittering fashion shows and wedding banquets to rocket attacks, invasions, and the terrifying August 2021 collapse, the hotel becomes a front-row seat to a nation’s endurance. Read the summary for a vivid, human-scale story of survival—one corridor, one kitchen, one newsroom at a time.
