In My Father's Country: An Afghan Woman Defies Her Fate

by Saima Wahab

Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, at age three Saima Wahab watched while her father was arrested and taken from their home by the KGB.  She would never see him again. When she was fifteen an uncle who lived in Portland, Oregon brought her to America.  Having to learn an entire new language, she nonetheless graduated from high school in three years and went on to earn a bachelor's degree.  In 2004 she signed on with a defense contractor to work as an interpreter in Afghanistan, never realizing that she would blaze the trail for a new kind of diplomacy, earning the trust of both high-ranking U.S. army officials and Afghan warlords alike.           
 
When she arrived in Afghanistan in the winter of 2004, Saima was among the few college-educated female Pashto speakers in the entire country. She was stunned to learn how little U.S. and coalition forces knew about the Pashtun, who comprise 40% of the population and from whom the Taliban arose. The blessing of the Pashtun is essential, but the U.S. army was so unaware of the workings of this ancient, proud, insular ethic group, that they would routinely send Farsi interpreters into Pashtun villages.  As a Pashtun-born American citizen, Saima found herself in an extraordinary position—to be able to explain the people of her native land to those of her adopted one, and vice versa, in a quest to forge new and lasting bonds between two misunderstood cultures.
 
In My Father’s Country follows her amazing transformation from child refugee to nervous Pashtun interpreter to intrepid “human terrain” specialist, venturing with her twenty-five-soldier force pro-tection into isolated Pashtun villages to engage hostile village elders in the first, very frank dialogue they had ever had with the Americans.

From her posting at the forward operating base Farah in Afghanistan’s blistering western frontier to the year she spent in Jalalabad translating for provincial governor “Hollywood Pashtun” Sherzai to the near-suicide missions of a year and a half in the Khost Province, where before every mission, she left instructions on how to dispose of her belongings, having to face the very real possibility of not coming back alive, Saima Wahab’s is an incomparable story of one young woman’s unwavering courage and undaunted spirit.


 

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Middle East, Biography, History, Book Club, Biography Memoir

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

SAIMA WAHAB was born in Afghanistan, went to Pakistan as a refugee, and moved to the United States as a teenager. Since then she has become one of the only Pashtun female translators in the world and, among other consequent roles, has returned to Afghanistan to work as a cultural adviser with the U.S. Army. A longtime resident of Portland, OR, Saima now lives in the Washington D.C. area.

Reviews

[Jamie Tanner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skip it! I am always interested in learning about other countries, cultures and customs. Unfortunately, this book did little to enlighten me. It started out pretty decent but lost steam (and all sense of direction by about 1/3 of the way through). I plowed ahead simply due to my own stubborn habit of ALWAYS finishing a book. My patience was never rewarded however. There was no climax, no big "Ah-ha moment," just a growing distaste and annoyance with the author. She kind of wanders with no real purpose through life while claiming trying to "find" herself in Her Father's Country. Basically her life and story are not that remarkable, while she seems to think they are. I went scouring through other reviews when I was about half-way through, to see if I was the only one disappointed with this book. It was like the other readers had plucked the words right out of my head: self-absorbed, self-involved. She appears to be extremely arrogant and places too much importance on herself and her views. One other reviewer commented that this reads like a journal; I have to agree. I could care less about her deployment romances (as a veteran and a female, I can spot these a mile away). I also don't find her views on the military or language translation to be especially insightful.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a disappointment. I heard Saima Wahab speak on the Daily Show and was very eager to read this book. She has a fascinating story to tell. She was born in Pakistan and emigrated to America at the age of 15. She became a very successful American, but always felt drawn to Afghanistan. So when she was offered a job translating Pashtun (her language) for the American military, she jumped at it.

I loved the beginning of this book when her father was killed by the Soviets and they were forced to flee to the grandparents home in the country. Saima was shocked when her best friend was forced into an arranged marriage and suffered domestic abuse. Even though she knew she didn't want that life, she sees it as an integral part of the Pashtun culture.

The story deteriorates when she returns to Afghanistan where she lives with the American military and has almost no interaction with the people of Afghanistan. In one scene, she gets permission to speak with the women in a village. She goes in with her six military protectors, negotiates it down to one, then goes in wearing so much protection, she can't even sit down. The meeting lasted 15 minutes during which the women told her to go home to her mother and leave her guns behind.

As a bi-lingual Pashtun speaker, she was unique, but I don't believe she is the only one. She was very insulting to anyone who spoke Farsi, accusing them of being ignorant and insensitive.

Then there were the long descriptions of three love affairs, guys who are so madly in love with her that they are willing to change their lives in order to be with her. She planned marriages, then dropped them like a hot potato at the last minute.

Mostly, I just wanted to say "Grow up, go home, recover from your PTS and think about how you really can help the people of Afghanistan."

[Pratibha Suku · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gave a picosecond glimpse of Pashtun culture.
The beginning was nice, progress boring and the end of book, a rush.

She could have let go off her romantic episode, simply because this was too much information .
Thing is we all are everywhere too curious about Afghan and personal romance story is a distraction, an irritating one if it keep happening on every second page.

Her cultural-conflict, confusion, gratitudeness, gladness, is the part she has written nicely.


--------------------------------
Contrary to what she calls herself she seemed as a happy warm soul in the interview.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Saima Wahab is an impressive person, in my opinion she is not an impressive writer. I wanted to be involved in her story; I wanted to understand her struggle to reconcile her pride in being Pashtun with her desire to live the life of an independent woman. But I just didn't feel it. Wahab describes her emotions without involving you in them. She also left out a lot of details, perhaps to protect her family, that would have helped me understand her experiences. I found the descriptions of her romantic relationships particularly frustrating. She describes three successive relationships with American men, all of whom want to marry her, all of whom seem willing to put up with a lot of crap to be with her. Yet none of these men emerge as a full-formed character and I never really felt any emotional involvement with these romances.

I did gain some insight into the challenges facing American forces in Afghanistan, but Wahab offers little hope for progress in that country, especially for its women.

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first half of this book was good. Reading about the author's childhood and her transition to America were interesting; but it fell apart about mid-way through. It became a series of "so then this one day this happened" stories whose only thread between them seemed to be how awesome the author is, how every man who speaks to her has fallen in love with her, how she's so special and unique because she can speak Pashtun (a piece of information we are remided of on practically every page). Honestly, I'm about 30 pages from finishing it and just can't make myself pick it up again to do it. She's become so self-centered and horribly unlikeable that I just don't want to read about her anymore.

[H Wesselius · Rating 2 out of 5]

She led an interesting and this could be an interesting story yet somehow the excitement isn't there. Beyond learning a few things of Pashtun culture, I didn't take much from this book. Perhaps it was the irritation I felt every time she assigned a characteristic or personality trait to the Pashtun blood in her veins; blood which differs not all from the "dutch blood" flowing in my veins. And add to this her somewhat adolescent behavior to the opposite sex and the book gets old very quick.

[Unwisely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, this book was bad for me, in that it kept me up way too late. A fascinating story of an Afghan girl with a father who defied tradition. She ended up back in Afghanistan helping American forces with culture.

Her journey is engaging and fascinating and when she goes back there's both the love and the hardships, depression and elation, ambivalence and resolve.

[Vickie Woodard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable memoir from an Afghan woman who came to America at age 15, then returned to Afghan as an interpreter for US forces, one of a very few interpreters to speak Pashtun.
She defies dress, customs and rules imposed upon women to live life her way and to improve US- Afghani relations.

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw Saima Wahab on Jon Stewart's Daily Show discussing her book and was intrigued enough to get it and read it. Pretty interesting story --perhaps a little too much detail about her own love life (I felt bad for the poor guys she ditches)-- but riveting when she actually gets into Afghan villages and interacts with the locals. Fascinating and horrifying situation for Pashtun women there. If you're interested in the reasons for our failure in Afghanistan (as well as all the would-be conquerers in the past such as the Soviets) it's definitely worth a read.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess this deserves a 2.5. I only finished it because it was for a book club. This book lacked depth and could have been written in a lot less pages as events seemed to repeat themselves and the writer even used the same phrases and sentences over and over.

[CTEP]

In My Father’s Country is the memoir of Saima Wahab, a woman who defies her fate. Wahab recants the stories of growing up in Kabul and moving to Pakistan after the KGB kidnapped her father. She describes being raised in a rare household where her male counterparts respected her and wanted more than just a marriage to a dominating male. She describes living in a country with “stubborn” men where the women are responsibility for maintaining respect and avoiding shame. If a man were to look at a woman in the market, it would speak poorly of the woman’s family, not the man.

Early in her life, Wahab knew she never wanted to marry an Afghan man. She saw them as violent, overpowering people who have no idea how to love. Her grandfather protected her and prevented her from marrying young, but instead made arrangements for her and her siblings to move to America to be taken care of by her uncles and go to school. It did not end up being the dream she had expected as she quickly realized that while she was going to school, her uncles would not allow her to do much else. They controlled her life, requiring her to come home directly after school, preventing her from writing papers about Romeo and Juliet and scolding her when a boy calls home from school looking for her. She lives with a lot of anger towards her uncles and eventually she bursts and moves out of the house.

The author constantly describes relationships she has and how it would outrage her family. Long histories of disrespect and war have left her family to hate many different groups of people. At one point, she ends up dating a Russian man with whom she worked. Her uncles found out and harassed her for embarrassing her family and disgracing her father. The Russians were responsible for irreprehensible damage including mass killings, kidnapping and overall destruction in Afghanistan. The idea that things that happened 20-30-40 years ago would prevent someone from caring for specific people is incredibly foreign to me. That may be a naïve thing to say, but to have only narrow options for people you can date or be friends with would be incredibly suffocating.

Wahab provides some great insight into Pashtun culture, which she ended up using for the military working as an interpreter. She explains how the country changes over the many years she works there. In the beginning, she could go to the market with one or two other soldiers and they could stop and talk to villagers, but as time went one, the danger rose and she could never stay in one place for long.

How did this affect my service: I love reading memoirs, especially memoirs that provide succinct insight into specific cultures, intersections of cultures and new experiences. Reading about the transition Saima made upon arriving to America, the difficulties and the successes, opens my eyes to what my students might be going through. It mostly makes me want to ensure that MLC incorporates units about domestic violence and all violence against women. It is a topic that is hard to discuss in any group, but all of our students, both male and female, need to know that there are rules in America that prohibit violence at home.

There is so much to this book, and I apologize for not giving it the best attention and detail in this report.

[Lauryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had Saima Wahab’s memoir In My Father’s Country: An Afghan Woman Defies Her Fate on my To Read list since I saw her interview on the Daily Show several years ago. Documenting her childhood in Afghanistan and then Pakistan as a refugee before moving to the United States to further her education, become a US citizen, and eventually travel back to Afghanistan to assist US troops during the war–and given the current political climate in the US—it seemed like the perfect time to finally make myself read this book.

First published in 2012, Wahab’s memoir begins with her earliest memories of life in Afghanistan as the Soviets invaded the country and her outspoken and rather liberal father was among the first taken into custody. She never saw him again and her family fled first to her father’s people in their small village and then across the border to Pakistan where they were safer. Wahab notes that even from a small age, she rejected elements of her native culture, especially with regards to how the women were controlled and restricted by the men of their families. Sent to her uncles in the US as a teenager along with her siblings and cousins, she embraced many of the freedoms of American culture even as it caused her to struggle with holding onto and preserving her sense of her culture as a Pashtun woman. Once she begins her exploration of her time working as a civilian alongside US forces in Afghanistan–first as an interpreter and then as a research manager on an HTT (Human Terrain Team) where she helped research and map the cultural differences between the villages in Afghanistan—her narrative focuses on her struggle to reconcile the two sides of her identity, Pashtun woman and American woman. Speaking the language and understanding the culture of the locals, she worked to educate and guide both the US soldiers and the local Afghan peoples as the nations aimed to work together to rebuild her father’s country.

For my full review, please visit my blog:
http://wp.me/pUEx4-N7

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised to see 2 star reviews of this book. Perhaps the readers weren't avid folk tale and folk story readers as a child. It was interesting to read of the disconnected feelings Saima had. It was equally interesting to read of her years as an interpreter and how dissatisfied she was with her ability to make a difference in the relationship the Americans were attempting to create in Afganistan. She finally resolves that as she becomes a cultural advisor or such with the military. She overcomes even more emotional hurdles as she wears a uniform and a gun along with the members of the group.

Wahab shares an important aspect of creating relationships with ancient cultures, their everyday caste system, fears, restrictions and even allowed topics of discussion.

I thoroughly enjoyed her book, in read a little slow in the last 2 chapters. I really would like to hear how Saima's life is today and if she was able find herself free to create a happy life.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't expect the first few pages of In My Father's Country to impact me the way it did. As I read the author's initial recounting of an incident that nearly left her dead at age five, about her father shooting his pistol off in honor of her birth despite the fact she was a girl, a tradition saved solely for boys, and then his prediction that she would go far in life, I thought of my own dad. And it made me sad. I had to stop reading at that point, take a deep breath, wipe the tears away and then begin again, this time with my mind in the right place.

My interest in reading Saima Wahab's book has much to do with my interest in the Middle East and current events. It also stems from my love for my daughter and wanting to expose her to strong and resourceful women. She's too young to understand or even care about much of anything outside of her own family and friends right now, of course, but that will one day change. I want her to be proud to be a woman and know that she can do just about anything she sets her mind to do.

Saima Wahab was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, her father a radio talk show host who stood up for his beliefs. His courage to speak out led to his arrest by the KGB and eventual death in prison. His family joined one of many families seeking refuge with relatives in a small village and later Pakistan. Fortunately for Saima, her grandfather honored her father, his son, by continuing to push for Saima's education, something unheard of for a Pashtu family. Boys went to school, but girls stayed home and learned domestic tasks, their job to take care of the home. Saima knew from a very young age she did not want to live like that, especially if it meant being under the thumb of a man. She saw the way men treated the women in their family, and Saima longed to be free and independent.

In her memoir, Saima shares the story of her childhood, of becoming a refugee, of her time in Pakisan and eventual move to to Portland, Oregon. She also talks about the culture shock she endured in the process. She was fortunate to immigrate to the U.S. with her brother and sister and cousins. Still, the experience was eye opening. The uncles who had taken them in wanted the teens to fit in in terms of outward appearance, however, they were still very conservative--and at times restricting--in the home. Saima, who was sometimes outspoken, caused them quite a bit of grief, even when it wasn't warranted. In one instance, a boy called Saima to ask for help in a class. It was a completely innocent situation, but the fact that a boy called for Saima was enough to send the uncles off the handle. They questioned her reputation and accused her of things that weren't true. It was behavior like this on the uncles part that eventually caused Saima to take her leave of them, striking it out on her own.

Saima always felt she was destined to do something big and she longed to return to Afghanistan to better understand the country her father loved so much. When the opportunity arose to go as an interpreter for the U.S. Army, she jumped at the chance. That experience opened many doors for Saima both career and personal wise.

I came away from In My Father's Country with a sense that the author had learned much about herself during her years in Afghanistan and yet still has a ways to go. Given she's still relatively young, it's to be expected. She is very westernized in her thinking and it came across in her expectations and desires for the Agfhanis, particularly the Pashtu women. She really wasn't given much of an opportunity to interact with the native women in her position and job duties in Afghanistan. When she finally was able to sit down and have a heart to heart with some of the women, it was an eye opening experience for her.

I wish Saima had been able to interact more with Afghani women. It would have been interesting to get a more clear picture of their perspective of life and the situation in their country. There was some of that included in the book; however, it was limited--and understandably so given Saima's access to who she spoke with. It would be really interesting to read something written from their perspective. I think I hoped to find some of that with Saima's memoir, but it wasn't meant to be.

Even so, Saima does a great job of describing the culture of the American military and its relationship to the people of Afghanistan, both the good and the bad. She also was able to get across the difficulties created when one country enters another without understanding the various cultures or the way the country is governed. Many mistakes were made early, including using the wrong interpreters--whether by deception on the part of the interpreters or ignorance. Would avoiding such mistakes have made a difference in the growing unrest and violence? Maybe not, but it certainly didn't help relations between the two countries.

I have great respect for Saima Wahab and all that she has accomplished in terms of reaching her dreams. I also admire her insight in not only the world around her but in her own personal life, recognizing her limitations and faults. I was fascinated with her various jobs in Afghanistan, both as an interpreter and later as a researcher, and enjoyed reading about her experiences. I could feel her frustrations when she hit a wall as well as joy when she was able to make a difference.

Saima clearly has genuine respect for the American Armed Forces. As the daughter of a Marine, I can't help but feel a sense of pride in that. They were lucky to have her on their team in Afghanistan. I only hope there are more women--and even men--out there like her who truly want to make a difference and do it right.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this memoir. I learned a tremendous amount about Pashtun and Afghan cultures, and a surprising amount about the American occupancy of Afghanistan. It took me a while to get through as it was quite heavy, and I often stopped to look up various leaders, countries, and concepts that the author discussed which took me off track from the book but down other related and interesting rabbit holes. It’s certainly not a summer beach read, but I highly recommend to anyone seeking broader knowledge about a country and a culture so deeply intertwined with the United States, where our own families have served, and yet not well understood by most of us.

[Christelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give it 3.5.
It’s an interesting read on the Pashtun culture and the American intervention in Afghanistan in the years 2000.
I’d find it a bit too long, too many army acronyms and repetitions about her childhood, how sad or stressed her family is. She seems quite self-centered and lacks self-reflection and maturity. Her relationship with men is particularly childish. She seems to be « the one who knows » and the centre of attention wherever she goes.
That made me doubt some of the events that she relates, their importance and her role within.

Not a great piece of literature either. Maybe she wrote it for herself.

[AshleyYvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A captivating read for me. I couldn't put it down. I wanted a true glimpse of the lives of Afghan women, and Saima Wahab struggles her native and adopted culture like no other. She's feisty, defiant, intelligent, and articulate. The only issue I have with her memoirs is that they close so suddenly, just as quickly as she seems to have disappeared on the internet since the book was released. I wish we knew more about her homecoming and if she ever reconciled her experiences with men who loved her. It was an amazing story.

[CandaceK · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have VERY mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it was an enjoyable read and challenged my thinking about the war in Afghanistan. At the same time, the author comes across as a completely intolerable narcissist who sees herself as the savior of the Afghan people, corrector of ignorant Americans' cultural errors, and the goddess of men. It's amazing she wasn't ashamed to present herself in the way she did.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, learning about Saima’s upbringing in Afghanistan, Pakistan and America. It taught me a lot about the Pashtun people and Afghanistan. It was very honest. The end was sudden and unexpected but I don’t expect her to invent some fairytale ending in a memoir. The acknowledgments served as a type of denouement for me.

[Julia P · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very like I am Malala, but since Saima Wahab is also an American she is better able to bridge the gap between Pashtun and American Society. With Malala, I learned about Pashtun traditions, but Saima Wahab made it clear how those traditions play out in the day-to-day lives of Afghan women.

[David Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A number of the books written about Afghanistan are historically informative of the thirty years of warfare and the destruction of Afghanistan. But this is the first, that gave a flavor of the Pashtun & Dari cultures and the tribal conflicts between the subcultures.

It is a huge divide that only the Afghans can bridge. Even if the Taliban return, I am sure that with the return of order and structure that Afghanistan will slowly return to a modernizing country, starting from its major cities and expanding out, as it had been before Russian and Pakistan intervention.

[Marylyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well done, wonderful to read of one so dedicated to a cause from such an early age and never wavering no matter the many difficulties.

[Ralene Kratzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eye opener for Afghan U.S. relations during the war.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my top favs of the year.

Recommended by JP a while back; Saima was a friend of his.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating window into the world of Pashtun women in Afghanistan. Ms. Wahab's story is actually the story of a woman trying to bridge two very different cultures, acknowledging the bad and celebrating the good in both, while trying to define and retain her core identity. Often as I was reading I thought how lonely Ms. Wahab seemed, never quite fitting in wherever she was.

After her father was kidnapped and killed in Afghanistan when Ms. Wahab was five years old, the family left the country and stayed in a refugee camp in Pakistan until Ms. Wahab and her brother and sister were sponsored by their uncles to come to the United States when she was 15. Despite her efforts to be a good Pashtun young woman, her uncles frequently accused her of low morals on the scantiest of evidence (one time, a family meeting was held to discuss the disgrace she had brought on the family because *gasp* a boy had called her on the phone to ask what the math homework assignment was).

She explains why women are treated in ways that, to most Westerners, seem simply inexplicable. "In Pashtun culture, women are the protectors of family shame. A woman's behavior can ruin the status a family holds in the community. This strong link between women, pride, and shame is one of the primary reasons why women are so furiously protected and controlled." Later she laments that Afghan women "who are clever and well informed are a lost resource, and Afghanistan--at least as it operates now--is unwilling to benefit from their wisdom and insight." Ms. Wahab finally broke with her uncles when she was in college, rejecting their attempts to control her by moving out to live on her own and provide for herself, but she still struggled to find her place.

A few relationships and jobs that didn't really go anywhere later, Ms. Wahab had the opportunity to return to Afghanistan as an interpreter, there being a huge demand for native speakers who were fluent in English, particularly women. There she had an up-close view of "well-meaning but inept NGOs" as well as the problems caused when, despite best intentions, the military simply didn't understand the local culture. "The soldiers I'd met at BAF [Bagram], Farah, Jalalabad, and now Kunar wanted to do the right thing by the Afghan people. They wanted to show the Afghans that they were there to help them in rebuilding Afghanistan. They wanted to convey their natural American friendliness, but they didn't know how to do this in an alien culture without being able to speak the local language."

She spoke highly of those she worked with in the military, including a touching story where all the soldiers in her convoy emptied their pockets to provide a sick little girl a taxi ride to the hospital at Bagram - on the other side of the country. "This selfless act of the American soldiers, most of whom were young adults, touched me even more than it could have touched [the young girl's mother]. She was of course grateful but probably believed that the soldiers had endless bags of money at their disposal. I had always felt bad about loving being an American more than being an Afghan, but seeing the goodness of these soldiers made me feel better about being more American than Afghan." Her description of participating in a Hero's Flight brought me to tears.

Ms. Wahab finally found a measure of purpose and peace from the "burden of my desire to bridge my two cultures" when the recommendations she made to a three-star general to adapt certain military procedures so they were more culturally sensitive, were adopted as standard operating procedure - "orders not to be questioned but to be followed, word for word...my words were being turned into orders to be followed long after I was gone."

For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.

[Israel · Rating 3 out of 5]

In My Father’s Country is a story of how Saima Wahab escaped Afghanistan as a young child, grew up in America, and returned to Afghanistan to help the American war effort as an interpreter. Saima is one lucky woman her grandfather is a village elder and his influence enables her to leave Afghanistan as a young woman just in time to escape her arranged marriage. Saima is sent to Portland, Oregon where she lives with her Uncles. Saima’s Uncles are no picnic and she grows up in Portland under a watered down version of her oppressive culture. Saima tells a story of sneaking into a video store after school, not to rent videos, but just to look at them and that trip alone puts her at great risk of ridicule from her Uncles. After some tense family situations Saima finally breaks away from her Uncles and goes out on her own. Saima lives a average American life in Portland which consists of a few jobs, a few boyfriends, and a place of her own which soon houses Saima and Saima’s mother and sister. Soon, Saima’s American life becomes too much and Saima wants to reconnect with her native culture so Saima takes a job as an interpreter for the American military in Afghanistan.

The Afghanistan portion of the book becomes very repetitive. Saima spends a few years working in Afghanistan as an interpreter but most of the stories that she tells are the same: she makes a friend at the American base, she breaks some poor soldier’s heart, and she interprets meetings for American commanders with Afghan leaders. It isn’t until the very end of the book that Saima experiences the death of one of her co-workers and really becomes dedicated to helping bridge the gap between the Americans and Afghans. The death of Saima’s co-worker also helps Saima bring into contrast her new American culture with her old Afghan culture. The contrast of these two cultures are alive in Saima and on display through out the entire book but only in the last few chapters does the contrast really become stark.

I picked this book up as a companion book to Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and both stories told by these women are similar except for one big difference. American culture and the influence it has over Saima is the biggest difference between the two books. Ayaan finds freedom from Islamic persecution in Europe but Europe doesn’t provide her enough security (even as a member of Dutch Parliament) so Ayaan spends the last third of her book running from Islamic extremists who are looking to kill her. In Saima’s case under protection of the American military Saima flaunts her new culture right in the faces of Afghans. Saima walks into Afghan villages with out wearing a headdress, Saima directly addresses village elders, and many times she is the only woman at the meetings she is there to interpret. The role that American culture plays in Saima’s story is both what makes her story good and what makes her story boring. American culture allows Saima to be proud of who she is and her heritage which is good but the influence of American culture doesn’t allow for more introspection which is what made Infidel such a good book.

[Brenna Gorbatov · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book for its historical importance. Not only is it a book which represents the historical time period of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, but most importantly the historical importance of feminism behind the book. If it was not for the feminist revolution within the U.S. and other developed nations in the world, this story could and would never be told. This story, by Saima Wahab, is a story that unfolds some of the cultural mysteries of the people living within Afghanistan during the time of the Taliban; which by the way, Taliban means teacher and how unfortunately this beautiful word has been corrupted by both its movement and universal media.

Saima is able to open the world up to an aspect of feminism that is still unfolding: the aspect of being a female, who is both Middle Eastern, Muslim, and American. This book shows how the line which these women walk is complex and how their experience is perhaps more extreme in regards to how they coexist with men. The extreme nature of how Afghan women live and are seen by men and other women is more intense then most industrial women can venture to imagine. Saima is able to show all of her anger, vulnerability, and knowledge about her native culture in a wonderful way that makes one want to know more about the social aspect of the tribes living in the Middle East, and how the U.S. is or is not working to bridge a peaceful union.

I learned a great deal about the people and traditions in Afghanistan, but I was often confused by all the military terminology and acronyms. I think what kept the interest of the book going was her ability to share her romantic relationships with men and how those relationship evolved and did not evolve because of her position between two very different worlds and ways of seeing life. I also found the editing to be a bit rough at times, which was a bit distracting.

I recommend this book for feminists, people who want to know more about Middle Eastern culture and Islam, the military relations on that side of the world, and men who want to know more about the dilemma many women of all cultures are caught in: how to love and be with a man when we also want our freedom and independence.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to understand Afghanistan a bit better. Contrarily, I feel like I do, but at the same time I'm more confused than ever. It seems to me that Pashtunwali not only defies logic, but contains so many contradictions that I don't know how anyone ever knows how they're supposed to act. Apparantly it is a terrible insult for a man to look at a woman in another man's family, but it is customary for young men to harass women. I won't even get much into the gross human rights violations that make up women's daily lives because listing what is obvious to a westerner--that being kept indoors as a virtual slave and being subjected to physical and emotional abuse every day is NOT okay and needs to stop not just now but about three thousand years ago--just won't change anything.

The ending of this book was a little disappointing. I felt like she got incredibly tired of writing, or maybe came up on a deadline and just stopped. She mentions (very slight spoiler, but not really) that she made THREE recommendations to an officer about cultural policies she felt he should adopt. A few days later, the officer used all of her recommendations in his next set of orders. She writes that she was proud that her voice was being heard and that she was making a difference for the people of her native country... but she never says what those recommendations were! The book just ends!

Quick, silly note: I did make a dish Saima mentions--shurwa. I don't know how authentic it was, but it was both tasty and healthy! I put beef stew meat in a big pan with a sliced-up potato, tomato paste, two carrots, an onion, a splash of chicken broth, salt, black pepper and cumin and simmered it for about forty minutes. I downloaded a recipe for pumpkin kadu, too, and I'll make that eventually.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, prompted to get a book based on an interview on The Daily Show (http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue...). Jon Stewart hasn't steered me wrong yet.

Saima was just a little girl in Afghanistan when the Russians were invading. She survived a bomb dropping on the room where she was sleeping, being hit by a bus, and being a woman in Afghanistan. Based on the book, she's an anomaly. Her dad was very progressive, so much so he had a radio show to encourage others to rebel. He was taken by the KGB and never returned. From there, the family went to the grandfather's village. The grandfather, or Baba, was another progressive soul who refused to treat the granddaughters in the fashion that other Afghan women were treated. The kids were sent on to America (Portland, OR) to live with uncles when they were young.

Saima obviously has a forceful personality, by her own admission, but she puts it to good use. Wanting to re-discover her father's country for herself, she signs up for a deployment with the US Army to be an interpreter. She then moves on to another job, still deployed in Afghanistan, still helping bridge the gap between the American soldiers and the Afghan people.

The way women are treated is heartbreaking. But it's encouraging that not all parents, not all families, treat the women this way. Saima had a great family that knew she was destined for greater things (When a son is born, fathers go out into the street to shoot guns. When Saima was born, her father went out and shot his gun. He thought she was going to do more than many sons.).

I got some interesting insight into a culture I just don't understand and also more empathy for the soldiers deployed over in a foreign land.

[Jaime (Twisting the Lens) · Rating 4 out of 5]

In My Father’s Country is a moving and inspiring memoir following Saima as she recounts her life from Afghanistan, to Pakistan, to America, and back again. A refugee from her homeland of Afghanistan at a young age, Saima spends a good portion of her life trying to figure out where she belongs. Her family fled to Pakistan to escape the rule of the KGB as Russia invaded Afghanistan. Years later, her mother and uncles arranged for Saima and her brother and sister to live in Portland, Oregon with their uncles, in order to escape the oppressive life they were destined to live.
However, Saima found herself living under the oppressive rule of her uncles, who allowed her none of the freedoms of the new country in which she found herself. After reaching a breaking point with her uncles’ judgments and expectations, she decides to move out on her own, facing possibly being disowned by her family. It is then, on her own for the first time in her life, when she begins to consider going back to Afghanistan to discover where she came from and who she is. She is given a chance, a few years later, to serve as an interpreter for the U.S.Army, as she is a rarity in that she is a woman who speaks both English and Pashtu (an Afghani language) fluently. It is through this experience that she is able to discover more about herself and all of the countries in which she lived, then she could have ever imagined.
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For the full review, and to find out the importance of this book, please visit me at: http://twistingthelens@gmail.com

This review is posted in conjunction with the book tour hosted by TLC Book Tours.