CROSSING THE RIVER KABUL

Nonfiction

A journey fraught with danger

CROSSING THE RIVER KABUL:
An Afghan Family Odyssey
By Kevin McLean

256 pp. Potomac Books

Reviewed by Sarah Corbett Morgan

Baryalai Popal grew up in an Afghanistan most of us have never seen or heard about. As westerners, we—or I, at least—only became aware during the communist occupation in the late 1970s and the subsequent U.S. response to that invasion. Eventually, we would back factions to drive out the Russians. The rest, as they say, is history. 

This book is the joint effort of Baryalai Popal and author Kevin McLean. It occurred to me while reading this compelling memoir that Americans are informed only about countries that affect us. The majesty of most cities of the Middle East only gains our attention on the front pages. There we see them lying in ruins after being bombed during protracted conflicts. Lebanon. Beirut. Damascus. Kabul. Aleppo. What were they like before? Where did people market, and what were their lives like before the violence? 

McLean weaves Popal's great life stories into an intricate fabric designed to explain the country, its history, culture, and customs. The son and grandson of powerful political leaders in the country, Popal is well positioned to give us an insider’s look at that intricate tapestry. 

The memoir begins with the chilling tale of Popal's flight from the country in 1980. His university is infiltrated by communist professors, and freedom of expression is  extinguished. He becomes a target of the communists, partly because of familial connections, partly his outspoken nature, but it is evident he must leave or risk imprisonment or death. The journey out is perilous and his destination, Jalalabad in Pakistan, is equally fraught with danger.  

But the book is much more than his escape. McLean moves back and forth in time from Popal's distant familial past to the present. His grandfather, Mukarram, was a Pashtun and Khan of Kandahar. His grandfather's cousin, Khair Mohammad, another local khan, was the grandfather of the former Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. Readers begin to see how tight the tribal connections are and have always been in Afghanistan. The names of men Popal either grew with or knew intimately is like reading a history book: Massoud, Hekmatyar, Karzai, and the list goes on.  

Popal's father, educated in Paris, was mentor and tutor of two boys who would eventually become leaders and shape the country: one, King Zahir Shah, and the other, his cousin, Mohammed Daoud Khan. One would form a coup and oust the other. And in doing so, Popal's Uncle Daoud created the perfect storm for the communist takeover. 

In between this history of the country and its tribal traditions are lovely passages about Kabul life and what it was like before the communist fall. Yards filled with fruit trees and flowers, local markets overflowing with food, and a carefree life for children free to wander from house to house. The sort of place where everyone knows everyone. 

In a scene during Popal’s escape, he passes the king’s Winter Palace and fondly remembers visits when he was a boy, sitting under shade trees smelling sweet blooms. Contrast this with the dirt and appalling poverty of the communist era. The palace lies in ruins; cement trucks rattle past spewing throat-choking dust. 

Popal eventually returns to Afghanistan after first finding asylum in Germany and later emigrating to the United States. His family's house and compound in Kabul is a hodgepodge of rubble and is occupied by drug dealers and criminals. How he deals with this is part of his Afghan heritage and his nature.  

It was a memorable read and a sobering look at what happens to countries, cultures, and people after years of unrelenting war. It is also a reminder that many immigrants to our country are not here by choice.