Reporter Amir Shah was the eyes and ears for AP in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks. Now retired, Shah remembers some of what happened behind the scenes in those days after the attacks and the early hours of the U.S. bombardment a month later.
FILE - In this Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2001 file photo, Associated Press correspondent Amir Shah, left, talks with a Taliban fighter in Torkham, Afghanistan. Shah was AP's eyes and ears in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, when all foreigners were ordered to leave. His assignment was dangerous, delicate and often terrifying.
The following account from Amir Shah, the now-retired Afghanistan correspondent for The Associated Press, is excerpted from the bookan in-depth look at AP’s coverage of 9/11 and the events that followed. When the bombarding started the first night, I was talking very quietly. It was so quiet outside. I was telling the story through the phone slowly, very slowly. I was afraid because three days before, the Arabs across the street had been looking at all the houses and seeing who was suspicious to them. I was working alone. I was so afraid. I gave Kathy all of the information from under the blanket, and all through the night I reported.
Anti-aircraft fire was flying into the sky, and F-16s were flying over Kabul. All the night they dropped bombs, but the bombs were very professionally placed. I thought it would be like the civil war when the Afghan pilots dropped bombs on people’s houses, on pharmacies. I remembered that, and I was so worried about my house. So as soon as daylight came at 5 a.m., I took my car and I went to my house. And I saw my house was OK. And when I checked the hospitals, there were no civilian casualties.
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