ADVENTURES IN AFGHANISTAN

Louis Palmer

Octagon Press, London, 1990

Soviet troops had 'officially' withdrawn, but the country was still in the ravages of war when Louis Palmer ventured into Afghanistan, pursuing legends of a secret knowledge. His story is a fascinating interweave of political and spiritual intrigue.

The journey begins with an interview in Pakistan with Professor Kalili, Poet Laureate of Afghanistan, and a sobering visit to the refugee camps -- an experience that 'cured me in one day of my pacifism.'

Palmer crossed into Afghanistan via a camel train of nomadic Kochis to connect with a supply caravan delivering rockets to the underground resistance. This military caravan was his transport through the war-torn countryside.

Along the way he encounters some extraordinary characters and previously unseen places: the Mujahidin commanders at Herat; and the old woman, claiming to be 150, who relates her prophetic dream of an Aniza Sheikh and Qureshi Sharif, the new Spring of Life. Gradually he pieces together a picture of the present-day operations of the mysterious Sufis, finally meeting with the head of the Mu'assisa, the Sufi central organization.

I wanted to know more than can be found in books about the enigmatic tribe of the Quresh, the shrine-keepers of Mecca from whose bosom Mohammed sprang; beyond the few bare hints usually quoted: about some ancient endowment, some spiritual specialisation, which the Quresh tribe guarded and developed.
--From Adventures in Afghanistan © 1990 by Octagon Press

'Unputdownable ... full of excitement ... for those interested in Sufi work and ideas, the book is full of essential information.'
-- The Independent