JAMES FERGUSSON IS a successful journalist and this is his first book. Its narrative verve and detailed evocation of places as different as Pakistani markets in London E6 and the dank, creepy interior of the Salang Tunnel (the Soviet-built burrow through the Hindu Kush that joins northern and southern Afghanistan) show him to be a first-class writer too.

This is the story of Minvais, Fergusson's Afghan fixrer, who is in danger of being killed by the Hazaras if he stays in Mazar-iSharif. Fergusson's admirable response is to get him to London and help him claim asylum. Although the process is labyrinthine, finally Mir and various members of his