July 17, 2021
Friday, Kabul, Afghanistan: as he walked down the stairs of his office – holding a cane in one hand, I stepped forward to shake hands with him. About six feet tall, full-bodied, this middle-aged man had once – during the Soviet era – worked for the Soviet secret service ‘KHAD’. This is the same KHAD that had close ties with the Soviet intelligence agency KGB, and which was once also accused of terrorism inside Pakistan.
In 1987, at the age of 19, he lost his leg while defending his homeland in Jalalabad. At the time, he was a communist and also a critic of Pakistan. After a while, when Kabul was captured by the Taliban, he was forced into exile in Britain.