Khyber Knights: Epic Adventure & Forbidden Romance Novel Set in Mystic Asia - Perfect for Historical Fiction & Fantasy Readers

Many people have praised Khyber Knights, including a professor of literature who complimented it, Long Riders who commented on its equestrian wisdom, explorers who admired the journeys and Pakistanis who remarked on the accuracy of the geographic and religious details.I am the friend who traveled with Asadullah Khan/CuChullaine O’Reilly in Afghanistan and Pakistan during the 1970s and 80s. The character Beau Fontaine, who appears in Khyber Knights is based upon my life. I am also a Member of the Long Riders’ Guild and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, by default of being part of the Karakorum Equestrian Expedition which journeyed through Northern Pakistan in 1989.Anyone who inspects Khyber Knights will see evidence of its accuracy, including Asadullah’s Peshawar resident’s permit, a newspaper clipping connected to his confinement in Pindi Prison, the Pakistani weapon’s license issued to Asadullah and the Pakistani army receipt provided at the sale of the horses we used in our journey.Despite this proof there seem to be a few people who question the integrity of the book, for which reasons I know not why. One person incorrectly suggested that Asadullah had not made the journeys or survived the hardships described in Khyber Knights. I can confirm that the skeptics are wrong because I participated in these events.Asadullah and I began our travels together in Afghanistan prior to the 1979 communist invasion. We met in Kabul and traveled north to Balkh. When Afghanistan was closed by civil war, our next adventure was an equestrian journey in Hunza. We then travelled to Peshawar.There Asadullah became involved with the Afghan resistance. After receiving an identity card from the Jamiat-Islami mujaheddin organization, he made plans to enter Afghanistan and join Turkmen freedom fighters. As the book describes, he purchased a Palomino mare to make the solo trip. Our dear friend, the Peshawari artist, Mohammad Sharif, painted the red hand of the O’Reilly clan on the horse’s right shoulder. Khyber Knights describes how that symbol was misinterpreted by suspicious Afghan refugees. Believing Asadullah was a communist spy, they kidnapped and pistol whipped him before he was rescued. His journey to Afghanistan was interrupted when he became ill with hepatitis and nearly died in Northern Pakistan. Despite its premature ending it was the first equestrian journey made through the area since the last British patrol rode out in 1927.When Asadullah returned to Peshawar, we traveled to Rawalpindi. As Khyber Knights explains, after our arrival there we were illegally arrested and tortured by Pakistani police. Like Asadullah, I too was beaten with a cricket bat. Because we refused to sign false confessions, we were incarcerated in the notorious Pindi Prison. I was in Cell 9 – Block 4 with Asadullah during the time we awaited our fate. We did not know if justice would be served or if we would receive the 25 year to life sentence the police were attempting to impose upon us. After we were declared innocent we returned to Peshawar.The Afghan civil war had intensified. When thousands of mujaheddin and Afghan resistance leaders staged a massive rally outside Peshawar, Asadullah was the only foreign correspondent present. During this time he used his skills as a reporter to teach journalism to mujaheddin. Despite being divided by Sunni and Shia religious differences, not to mention conflicting political allegiances, Asadullah managed to obtain the cooperation of all the bickering Afghan resistance leaders. They each sent students to Asadullah’s journalism classes.During this time Afghan communists inflicted a brutal bombing campaign against Peshawar. Foreign born residents sought safety by living outside Peshawar in guarded compounds. Asadullah and I continued to reside in the heart of the old city, where we shared quarters in the Hashtnagri neighborhood. Despite the political trouble we still wore our Afghan clothes and turbans.The conclusion of Asadullah’s journalism teaching allowed us to depart on the longest equestrian journey in Pakistan’s history. Khyber Knights tells how we purchased four horses from the Sargodha army remount depot. Prior to our departure the Minister of the Interior granted us the extraordinary privilege of being issued special weapons licenses that permitted us to ride through the country fully armed, for reasons of safety from both man and beast, as we were journeying into completely lawless areas.Our journey took us from Peshawar, north to Chitral. As Asadullah wrote, the night we arrived in Kafiristan our pack horse died and was eaten by the local inhabitants without our knowledge or consent. Despite our loss, we continued and rode over the 12,000 foot Shandur Pass. There we witnessed the famous annual polo game. After reaching the town of Gilgit we turned south, crossed the hostile Diamer wastelands, re-entered the Karakorum Mountains, rode over the 13,000 foot Babusar Pass, went through the uneasy war-zone of Kashmir, passed across the Punjab, forded the Kabul River and finally headed home to Peshawar.As Khyber Knights explains, my love for a Pathan woman was an important factor during that time. Asadullah also accurately depicted my many years playing the Afghani rabab.As he explains in the book’s Introduction he chose to bring all of these events together and to delete certain characters from the story. The result is that Khyber Knights depicts a world that has passed out of existence. The North West Frontier Province which we called home no longer exists. After Benazir Bhutto was elected President of Pakistan, she ordered Pindi Prison destroyed. The trail that Asadullah and I rode through northern Pakistan was wiped out by an earthquake. The remote Babusar Pass that took us so much effort to ride over can now be traveled via a paved road.Khyber Knights has unintentionally become a window on a lost world – and I was there.