Since the terror attacks of 2001, no Western reporter has crossed into the tribal areas that line the Pakistan-Afghanistan divide. I thought I could be the one. Now in my 60s, I had spent my adult life working and traveling in the region, catching my first glimpse from the front seat of an old Volkswagen on a cross-country trip through the borderlands in the 1970s. After the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, I hiked into the mountains and lived with the mujahedin as they fought for their independence. I wrote a book about my experiences and, after 9/11,I returned several times on assignment for CBS News.
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