The New Republic Online
How to change a tire in Kandahar.
December 15, 2001
The United States Special Forces have had many fine days in Afghanistan of late, but yesterday was not one of their best, at least not in Kandahar.
The Taliban surrendered their spiritual capital a week ago, and now the city’s ...
Slate
The strange last days of the mullahs in black turbans.
November 20, 2001
It was, I suppose, just a matter of time until the Taliban imported a media circus.
About nine days ago the Afghan ambassador in Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, who was his regime’s principal spokesman to the outside world, ...
The New York Times Magazine
Every refugee camp has its own social hierarchy. In Shamshatoo, on the Pakistani border, it all begins with a man named Nusrat.
November 18, 2001
Nusrat motions for me to follow him through the crowd. The situation is hectic, and I hesitate, even though ...
The New York Times Magazine
Which is not unusual, and helps explain why Peshawar’s youth are tinder for Islamic extremism.
October 21, 2001
Emroz Khan destroys for a living. He dismantles car engines, slicing them open with a sledgehammer and a crooked chisel, prying apart the ...
The New York Times Magazine
Finding love on the battlefield.
October 7, 2001
A commander in the Hezbul Mujahadeen, a band of Islamic militants, Kiramat Ullah loves to fight, loves to watch videos of fighting, loves to listen to songs about fighting and would be honored to die in battle ...
Slate
Terrorism, suicide and the Quran.
October 4, 2001
Nawaf Alhazmi, one of the suspected Sept. 11 hijackers, left behind a letter that outlined last-minute things he should do and think about, such as not forgetting his passport and ensuring he was not being followed. The letter, ...
The New York Times Magazine
Getting ready for the jihad.
September 30, 2001
If you happen to need ball bearings in Peshawar, Abdul Sattar Shah is your man. He runs a shop in the Khyber Bazaar that, as his business card states, “deals in all kind of Ball Bearings, Roller Bearings, ...
Slate
The unnoticed perils of working in the Third World.
September 28, 2001
America sounds like a dangerous place. I don’t know for sure, because I was in Macedonia when the World Trade Center was attacked, and I have been in Pakistan since then. But friends in New York, where ...
Slate
The Mossad and 9/11. A dispatch from Peshawar.
September 23, 2001
The headbands were flimsy, just strips of white cloth tied across demonstrators’ foreheads with slogans written in black ink. The most popular slogan was “Long Live Osama,” though others said ...
Slate
Dispatches from Skopje
September 13, 2001
Thursday, Sept. 13, 2001
At the main gate to the U.S. military base outside Skopje, Army soldiers in full battle gear offer visitors a crisp salute and an even crisper shout of their squad’s motto—”Strike To Kill.”
The motto predates the ...
