The book about her dramatic escape in 1995 became a best-seller in India and was made into a Bollywood film in 2003.
Ms Banerjee had recently moved back to Afghanistan to live with her husband. A senior police official told the BBC’s Jafar Haand that Ms Banerjee, who was also known as Sayed Kamala, was working as a health worker in the province and had been filming the lives of local women as part of her work.
Police said Taliban militants arrived at her home in the provincial capital, Kharana, tied up her husband and other members of the family, took Ms Banerjee out and shot her.
They dumped her body near a religious school, police added. No group has yet said it carried out the attack. ‘Taliban interrogation’ Ms Banerjee, 49, became well-known in India for her memoir, A Kabuliwala’s Bengali Wife, which recounted her life in Afghanistan with her husband Jaanbaz Khan.and her escape.
She was the subject of the 2003 Bollywood film, Escape From Taliban. Starring actress Manisha Koirala, the film described itself as a “story of a woman who dares [the] Taliban”.
