masood farivar

Masood Farivar was ten years old when his childhood in a then peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan was shattered by the Soviet invasion of 1979. Fleeing across the border to Pakistan, Masood entered a madrassa for refugees, but soon returned to his home to join the anti-Soviet jihad.

Two years later, having fought alongside the Afghan mujahideen and Arab and Pakistani volunteers, Farivar left his country to study at Harvard, and then worked as a journalist in New York. But finally, after a decade in the United States, he felt he had to return to Afghanistan. Having seen terrorism turn America into a hotbed of anti-Muslim racism, he now returned to a country devastated by war and a safe haven for international terrorists.

In this remarkable memoir, Masood paints a vibrant portrait of his family and his nation's history, reveals the world of militant Islam by taking us deep inside the madrassas, vividly recounts his experiences on the battlefield at Tora Bora, and conveys the culture shock of a Muslim living in the West today.