Hot Steel- From Soviet-era Afghanistan to post 9/11: Frontline encounters of the longest-serving foreign correspondent in Kabul

by Terence White

Part war correspondent's memoir, part adventure-travel journal, this is the remarkable story of Terence White's exploits as a frontline photojournalist and the longest-serving foreign correspondent in Kabul.Clandestinely visiting Afghanistan during the bloody Soviet occupation, Terence befriended the famous mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Masood. He survived the Afghan jihad only to be seriously wounded by mortar shrapnel during factional fighting for Kabul. On 9 September 2001 Masood was assassinated by al-Qaida. The author, who had been expelled by the Taliban, returned to Afghanistan to cover the post 9/11 invasion by the United States - and to find the female surgeon who saved his life.

In doing so Terence White came to understand his own infatuation with 'hot steel' and learned to abandon his Afghan alter-ego for the sake of his family.

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

Terence White is a journalist and author originally from New Zealand. After earning a degree in marine biology from Auckland University, he elected to travel around Asia for several years. After working for an NGO in Cambodia and teaching English in Iran, he began his career in journalism by covering the war in Afghanistan during the early 1980s. He lived in Kabul, Afghanistan from 1992 until 1997, during which time he was employed by Agence France-Presse (AFP). He was expelled by the Taliban in 1997, though he returned after September 11, 2001 to cover the campaign led by the U.S. to overthrow the Taliban regime. During his career as a journalist, he also covered conflicts in Burma, Cambodia, Iraqi Kurdistan, Yugoslavia and Sri Lanka. He is now a full-time writer, and lives in Paris with his wife and two children.