Life would never be the same. It was Christmas Eve, December 24, 1979, and the people of the Soviet Union were celebrating the birth of their Christian Savior. Throughout Russia…

I was born Tooran Popal on May 2, 1974, into a loving family that enjoyed a prosperous life in the beautiful capital city of Kabul. I am descended from the Popalzai or Pashtun…

As time went by, Afghan communities and their residents learned to adapt to the new environment of occupation. The fear of the children became one of the first casualties of indifference…

I heard my father greet my uncle Hashmat at the front door of our home. Hashmat joined the other family members who had already arrived and gathered in the living room. My sister…

It was now 1984. I was 11 years old, and my family and I had passed the last Soviet roadblock that separated us from the familiarity of our home in Kabul. As the pickup truck of the Coyote and…

It felt like I had just dozed off when I was awakened by the Coyote, who was jumping and shouting. We were all groggy, and several complained that we wanted to rest…

I couldn’t believe we were finally going to arrive in the beautiful, modern world I had only heard about and seen on TV or in the movie theater. As we made…

It was January 1986 when our plane landed at San Diego International Airport. My siblings and I were bursting with excitement about finally arriving in the United States. We were certain that it…

One of the things I learned in school that resonated with me during those first years in the United States was a phrase offered by the French novelist, journalist…

The opportunity to attend college and get a good education was greatly appreciated. It was something that would have been impossible to do in war-torn Afghanistan, so I took advantage of the…

A year and a half passed after my horrible car accident, and I finally regained my original look. The only external remnant was a lengthy scar on the side of my head that lay mostly hidden…

In late December 1979, the first armored columns crossed the Amu Darya, and the war began. The decision was made in Moscow under Leonid Brezhnev, with the quiet assent of men who believed…

The old republic did not end in a single night, and the new order did not begin with a single sunrise. Between those two truths stretched years in which Afghanistan tried to learn the habits of a state…