![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Now, re-reading the book 28 years later, with the 20/20 hindsight of (1) the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, (2) the Taliban takeover, (3) the sobering knowledge that charismatic rebel leader Ahmed Shah Masud (the lone real-life character in the novel) would perish at the hands of Taliban the day before the 9/11 attacks, and (4) the drawdown of my own country's forces from Afghanistan after 15 years of war, (5) having majored in International Relations at USC, and (6) my own travels in Muslim countries (though not in Afghanistan), I'm able to appreciate the storyline with a new sense of perspective. This was the novel that made me a Ken Follett fan in the first place, back in 1987 at the tender age of 12, when the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan was still in effect, but definitely on the wane (thanks to the CIA's supply of Stinger missile launchers and other arms to the mujahedeen), back when there was no Western media distinction between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance and the insurgents were seen by me and my fellow Americans as the "good guys" (or at least the lesser of the evils vis-à-vis the Soviets). ![]()
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