Winner, 2014 IP Rolling Picks Best Fiction Kafiristan is a story of friendship, betrayal and retribution. We follow the fortunes of Ahmed Taseer, a boy from an isolated mountain village in Afghanistan. When a close friend is orphaned and seized by the Taliban to become a suicide bomber, Ahmed and his friend Haziz retaliate. Kafiristan explores how opposition to radical religion and narcissistic power can trigger events that can take a boy to the other side of the world. In Australia, Ahmed navigates the fate of asylum seekers, assimilates into a foreign culture and becomes a man. He questions ingrained religious perceptions and finds that his past must be resolved before he can embrace his new life.