CONFESSIONS OF A MULLAH WARRIOR

Memoir about growing up in war-torn Afghanistan by an Afghan refugee who joined the jihad against the Soviets and later studied at Harvard.

The only son of a well-educated mechanical engineer who worked for an oil and gas company near Sheberghan, Farivar was nine when the Soviets invaded in 1979. Since his father was fiercely anti-Soviet, the family fled the country and settled in Peshawar, Pakistan, where Farivar attended a madrassa and received full indoctrination in Koranic and Arabic teaching. Fired up to join the jihad, he returned to Afghanistan and joined the mujahideen base at Tora Bora in the late ’80s. As the war was winding down, Farivar met a curious Mexican-Greek journalist, Karimullah, who was impressed by the author’s scholarly bent and encouraged him to apply to Harvard. He studied for a year at Lawrenceville Prep before landing at Harvard, and he humorously describes the culture shock he encountered in his first visit to America. Despite his campus legend as the “Afghan freedom fighter,” Farivar maintained a low profile. He shaved his beard, moved to New York and tried to find work and a green card, just as the Taliban began their ascendancy. The end of the book is a bit vague, as the author notes he worked as a “roving war correspondent” and his immigration status was imperiled after 9/11. Following several trips back to Afghanistan, he recognized that his heart was there and that “only when Afghan refugees in Pakistan return to Afghanistan can there be stability in Afghanistan.” Finally, Farivar returned in 2007 for an extended stay to assist Afghan journalists in Kabul, and he leaves his memoir as open-ended as the fragile state of his country.

Eye-opening chronicle of cultural exchange.