Product Description

When British and American intelligence catch wind of a major Al Qaeda operation in the works, they are primed for action - but what can they do? They know nothing about the attack: the what, where or when. They have no sources in Al Qaeda, and it's impossible to plant someone. Impossible, unless ...The Afghan is Izmat Khan, a five-year prisoner of Guantanamo Bay and a former senior commander of the Taliban. The Afghan is also Colonel Mike Martin, a 25-year veteran of war zones around the world, a dark, lean man born and raised in Iraq. In an attempt to stave off disaster, the intelligence agencies will try to do what no one has ever done before - pass off a Westerner as an Arab among Arabs - pass off Martin as the trusted Khan. It will require extraordinary preparation, and then extraordinary luck, for nothing can truly prepare Martin for the dark and shifting world he is about to enter. Or for the terrible things he will find there ..."The Day of the Jackal", "The Dogs of War", "The Odessa File" - the books of Frederick Forsyth have helped define the international thriller as we know it today. Combining meticulous research with crisp narratives and plots as current as the headlines, Forsyth shows us the world as it is, in a way that few have ever been able to equal. And the world as it is today is a very scary place ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99283 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 343 pages

Daily Mirror
The Afghan is an extraordinary story of bravery, fanaticism,
extreme espionage and advanced terrorism.

Literary Review
Exciting, frightening, instructive.

From the Back Cover
‘One of the world’s best thriller writers’ Wall Street Journal

When British and American intelligence learn of a major Al Qaeda operation in the works their only option is to plant someone in Al Qaeda to find out more.

The Afghan is Izmat Khan, a five-year prisoner of Guantanamo Bay and a former senior commander of the Taliban. The Afghan is also Colonel Mike Martin, a 25-year veteran of war zones around the world, a dark, lean man born and raised in Iraq. In an attempt to stave off disaster, the intelligence agencies will try to do what no one has ever done before – pass off a Westerner as an Arab among Arabs – pass off Martin as the trusted Khan.

It will require extraordinary preparation, and then extraordinary luck, for nothing can truly prepare Martin for the dark and shifting world he is about to enter. Or for the terrible things he will find there . . .


‘Forsyth’s finest novel since the Jackal, a story as fresh as tomorrow’s headlines, packed with details that confirm his reputation…all told with a pace and panache that demands that you never put it down’ Daily Mail

‘An extraordinary story of bravery, fanaticism, extreme espionage and advanced terrorism’ Daily Mirror

‘An imagination and talent which shows little sign of abating’ Daily Express

Customer Reviews

Afghan's early promise disappoints
The book gets off to a cracking start. As always Mr Forsyth has done his research, which makes the setting out of the plot all the more believable. Indeed, with a foot so firmly placed in reality the book reads almost as if it was a journalistic account of an actual event rather than a work of fiction. So why does this book that is so engrossing for the first 200 pages suddenly massively disappoint. Well, I am sorry Mr Foryth but suddenly, and for no good reason, this gritty and believable story goes into a complete fantasy land. I shan't go into detail but basically it involves an aeroplane developing mechanical problems somewhere over the vastness of the USA What, we ask, has this got to do with our plot? All is soon revealed, as by a truly staggering coincidence of fantastical proportions, the plane crashes onto the exact spot where one of the main characters happens to be. If he had been hit by a meteor it would have been more believable. As it is, this is the point where the story virtually collapses. The strong thread of reality, which weaves together the first two thirds of the book is severered beyond repair. As a result I felt a profound indifference to what followed. What a shame!

Ridiculous plot coincidence ruins book...
I was quite enjoying this book despite, as has been mentioned in other reviews, the virtual "disappearance" of the lead character half way through the book, then all of a sudden an event occurs with a crashed fighter jet which is so unlikely and improbable that it completely ruins the whole book.

I will now describe this moment so if you do not want the any plot details revealed stop reading but I feel I must point it out -

We are expected to believe a fighter jet just happened to malfunction (due to an engineer leaving a spanner somewhere on the jet by accident) at the time it just happened to be flying directly over a secret bunker, just happened to destroy part of it and kill some of the agents, just happened to destroy the wall where the prisoner was held and just happened to give him a chance to escape...what a load of nonsense. The chances of this happening are so remote that it really is beyond ridiculous.

How intelligent critics who are paid to review books can look past this ludicrous plot moment I fail to understand. I can`t bring myself to read any more of this terrible book so would advise anyone else not to bother unless you want quite good background information on the situation in Afghanistan, as this has ruined the book for me completely.

Good then horribly bad
I agree with the sentiments of most of the other reviewers, it feels horribly rushed in the latter half of the book.

The story starts off great with some nice scene setting of flashbacks to the Afgan conflict with the Soviet occupation. Mike Martin the SAS man from Fist of God is sent in to impersonate an Afgan prisoner from Guantanamo Bay. MM also worked with the afgan in the fight against the soviets. All good so far.

The reader is fed tid bits of information about the Al-Q plan to do their next big attack on the west - which sounds pretty credible.

Then by the most outrageous of coincidences the Afgan prisoner escapes. But for no point at all other than to make a chase chapter with no relevance to the bigger plot.

Then the book finishes in what feels like a few pages with a really disappointing ending. It feels like FF's original plans were to have all these events to intertwine but was rushed or they didn't work. As it is I was really disappointed and it is a real dip in form because i really enjoyed the avenger his previous book.

Don't bother with this one, get any of his previous books!