The Last Noble Jihad

The 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, as well as attacks around the world for the past 25 years carried out by violent Muslim factions, took seed in the beautiful, but forbidding mountains, the lush green valleys and the arid frontiers of Afghanistan in 1979. Thousands of Muslim fighters, including an exceptionally tall Saudi born into wealth and privilege, came from many Islamic countries to join their Afghan brothers in Holy War against the murderous, occupying forces of the Red Army. With covert backing in weapons and money from the United States and Saudi Arabian governments, funneled from Israel and Egypt through Pakistan, the Mujihadeen, in one of the biggest military upsets in history, repelled the Russian invaders. In doing so, these Muslim farmers and sheep herders, whose ranks and families suffered immeasurable suffering and death, were instrumental in bringing down the Berlin Wall, the icon of Communist oppression during the Cold War, and soon after the Soviet empire itself. But what went so terribly wrong with the ideology of some of these Muslim Holy Warriors between the Soviets' withdrawal in 1989 that would make them hijack Islam - the religion of peace - for their own ends and lead to the attacks and cold-blooded murder of innocent men, women and children in America and around the world? "The Last Noble Jihad," as we follow Afghans, Russians, Americans, Israelis, Pakistanis and nationals from many countries, is an indictment of war and all of the intrigue, deception, shifting alliances, destruction and death that are synonymous with it. The story is also a provocative geo-political thriller, one that challenges stereotypes and misconceptions that fuel religious conflicts to answer the question that lies at the nexus of faith, religion, politics, history and current events. Can those of different faiths live together? Whatever our beliefs, can we make our traditions speak with compassion and mutual respect in a dangerously polarized world?