Seven Nights Till Dawn
‘Seven Nights Till Dawn’ opens in 1974 Kabul, where Tooran Popal was born into a prosperous family. His father worked as chief accountant and owned a boutique. His mother served as an academic counselor. Young Tooran’s peaceful childhood ended on Christmas Eve 1979 when Soviet tanks rolled into Afghanistan.
At age five, Tooran’s world became unrecognizable. He witnessed horrors no child should see: neighbors killed, his teacher raped and murdered, his father tortured twice. The brutality was constant and inescapable. When staying meant certain death, his parents hired a smuggler to guide them through the mountains to Pakistan. The journey lasted seven days and seven nights on foot through active battlefields, minefields, steep mountains, and harsh weather with minimal food and shelter. Every step risked their lives.
Pakistan offered safety but not comfort. The family lived in poverty among thousands of refugees, waiting years for immigration paperwork. In 1986, they reached America with nothing: no English, no money, facing racism and cultural shock. Tooran worked multiple jobs while attending college, survived a near fatal car accident, and rose to become a general manager at age 22. He built successful businesses, married, and founded the Tooran Popal Charity Foundation to help widows, orphans, and disabled individuals in Afghanistan. He later campaigned for Afghanistan’s presidency until the Taliban’s 2021 return ended those efforts.
