Way To Kabul

WAY TO KABUL, is my first memoir of my journey back to Afghanistan during the oppressive rules of the Taliban.

Introduction
This work of non-fiction is Sayed’s memoir of his journey back to Afghanistan during the oppressive rule of the Taliban.

Living in Pakistan as refugees, Sayed is a humble family man working for the UN as a driver and earning a good income compared to others. Still, what he witnesses on a daily basis is horrific, as people struggle to survive in a country that has lost itself to constant brutality.

On his search to find his parents he luckily escapes jail for not having the correct ID and a long enough beard. This is the story of a man struggling to come to terms with the horrors happening in the land of his birth.

This is a challenging and thought-provoking read that tells it like it is and could disturb some readers.

The various settings and movements from one to the other maintain the pace of the story and the author captures the true-life situations of good people living in constant fear. This is a work of considerable scope that is a very worthwhile, eye-opening read from start to finish.

As refugees living for decades in Pakistan, life for Sayed, his family and millions of other Afghanis is not easy.
Constantly harassed by the police and the authorities and suffering with the heat, pollution, and over-crowdedness these displaced people live their lives as best they can. The fact that they can live their lives is a miracle.
Compared with the even harsher conditions of Afghanistan their life in Pakistan is paradise. This is the story of Sayed’s journey back to Afghanistan during the oppressive rule of the Taliban. His aim is to see his parents but instead he is shocked at the situation he finds in his home country and it is only through luck that he escapes punishment or jail for not having the proper ID or a long enough beard.

For the Afghanis of that time, life under the Taliban is horrific – but no more horrific than it had been under the rule of Russia and later the Warlords. Is Afghanistan destined to live in perpetual hell? Rather than saving Afghanistan from the continual torture of war and violent leadership, rule by the Taliban means more stripping away of personal freedoms and vindictive punishments meted out by the ‘soldiers of God’. The general insanity of a country that has lost itself to the brutality of these people and those who preceded them, people who denounce modernity but rule by the power of modern guns, is witnessed by Sayed as he struggles to come to terms with the horrors occurring in the land of his birth.