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2005: A 12 young American boy returns to his Afghan home
99 Nights in Logar
What you need to know before your trail
It is 2005 in Logar, Afghanistan, and twelve-year-old Marwand has returned from America with his family for the summer. He loses the tip of his finger to the village dog, Budabash, who then escapes. Marwand’s quest to find Budabash, over 99 nights, begins.
The resulting search is an adventure, one that takes Marwand and his cousins across Logar, through mazes, into floods and unexpected confrontations with American soldiers. Moving between celebrations and tragedies, Marwand must confront family secrets and his own identity as he returns to a home he’s missed for six years.
Travel Guide
Afghanistan (Logar in red)
Logar
A small region almost in the centre of Afghanistan
The boy arrives at Kabul Airport pockmarked after an eight hour trek through the White mountains. (Kabul’s airport belonged to NATO then, so he says they have to fly into Pakistan and then drive up from there. They sweat due to the sun and the black kameez and partug which they alre wearing.
He has so much Farsi hurled at him that he doesn’ know what to do as he only speaks English and a little Pashto, so the strange nature of this new country must be very strange indeed. To come from a relatively Western life at the age of twelve then to be immersed, not slowly but immediately into a country so alien to his own.
It’s a country of dust, dreams and checkpoints. Soldiers, militiamen and buildings in ruin.
They set out on the trail for this big black dog which has taken his finger. A bizarre trail it would seem, but one which encapsulates so much. The journey into the desert, via the towns, villages and hamlets of this country and landscape is a journey into the heart of a family, of Islam and the culture of Afghanistan and especially of those living in other countries now.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: 99 Nights in Logar
Destination : Logar, Afghanistan Author/Guide: Jamil Jan Kochai Departure Time:2005
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