Khalid’s past: a jigsaw reading

The Afghanistan years: Fought in Afghanistan for two years. He learned to use his weapon, to pray with the precision and punctuality of the Salafis, the Islamic purists who were driving the holy war. He had arrived in Afghanistan at a pivotal moment. The war against the Soviets was giving birth to a new breed of Arab fighters. It was there that the seed of allegiance was planted for thousands of young men who had flocked to the mountains of the Hindu Kush to help fight the communists.