This volume is a gripping story about Sikander, a Pakistani who travels extensively from his native Pakistan to Afghanistan, Scotland and ultimately the United States. The story opens in a classroom with the instructor Aftab reminding Sikander to pay attention to the class in
English literature. Sikander was from a privileged family in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.
There was growing military aid from America which endeared it to Pakistani society. This aid was reinforced by expatriates remitting
billions of dollars in hard foreign exchange back to Pakistani relatives at home. Initially, Sikander leaves Peshawar only to encounter the Mujahideen. He joins them to help oust the Soviets from Afghanistan and does so with American support. The encounter with the
Mujahideen opens with Sikander in the midst of a community prayer ceremony. At a point, Abdul Latif invites Sikander to join with the
group. Sikander increasing warms up to the idea of joining the group. A member comments " Once you get to Laghar Juy, the next part is down
to the Soviets and where they'd like to be when you hit them !" he joked.
Afghanistan is quite diverse ethnically with Pashtun in the majority followed by Tajik, Hazara and Uzbek (minority). The Sunni Muslims are by far the majority in Afghanistan with just under 90% representation amongst the people. Afghanistan is a potential magnet for global investment with oil, gas, copper, coal, zinc, iron and a budding development of lithium.
Against this backdrop, Sikander enthusiastically seeks to drive the Soviets from Afghanistan. His character evolves by working through the differences in the practice of mainstream Islam and the continuous conflicts inherent in differences between the mainstream and the fringe elements. The ferocious nature of the conflict is summed up in this exchange. "In those villages that were dotted around the landscape,
between the Spin Ghar and the main Jalalabad-to-Torkhum road there were long stretches of time in the aftermath of any of the frequent
Soviet attacks that would reduce much of the agricultural land to little more than a lunar landscape." Later on, he describes the likely outcome of an ambush. " This was no armchair newspaper article, TV commentary or one of the many American war movies he had seen at home. This was real. He was now on a path to witness and participate in real slaughter."
The story proceeds at a fast pace until the end of the book which has a chapter on Redemption. In the last chapter, Sikander is pictured
having important discussions in the corporate suites. "Sikander had no wish, at least for now, to reveal his prior experiences with the head of security for the company his family now owned."
There is a very extensive appendix containing the glossary, maps, acknowledgments and literary references. The glossary has sample
words from Arabic, Pashto and Urdu.
The geographical maps depict the following locations:
* Afghanistan, Pakistan and India
* Peshawar, Hayatabad and Jamrud
* Sikander's travels in Nangarhar Province
Readers will find this book both fascinating and instructive. The beauty of the work is its multi-cultural perspective. The book is a quick read despite its 570 or so pages in length.
