I wish I had the time to read all the fabulous books recommended to me. However, when I received this glorious recommendation from my friend Ted Eliot, former Ambassador to Afghanistan, one of the most well read people I know, I felt compelled to share his words with you.
“My Three Lives on Earth" The Life Story of an Afghan-American by Tawab Assifi.
“Tawab is a friend of ours since we first met him in 1974 in Herat where he was the provincial Governor. Having earned an engineering degree from Cornell University, he returned to Afghanistan to spend many years working on and managing the Helmand basin irrigation and electric power project. After President Daoud [Khan] came to power in 1973, he was appointed first to the Herat post and then as Minister of Mines and Industry. His book illuminates the progress being made in that period in a peaceful Afghanistan.
In April, 1978, during the Communist coup, Tawab was arrested and then incarcerated for 22 months in Pul-e-Charkhi prison. I believe his is the only published account by a witness of the assassination of President Daoud [Khan] and members of his family in the presidential palace. It also may be the only detailed description of the horrors committed in the Pul-e-Charkhi prison in subsequent years.
Tawab describes his harrowing escape from Afghanistan in 1981, his settling with his family in southern California and his efforts in the post-Taliban era to assist the Karzai government in addressing the reconstruction of the Helmand project and managing Afghanistan’s minerals issues.”
This book can be purchased from Amazon. My copy is on it's way.
