Carlotta Gall’s new book opens in 2006, when undercover Pakistani intelligence agents punched her in the face, after breaking into her hotel room and confiscating her phone and computer.
It’s just one example of how risky her job — covering Afghanistan for The New York Times — has been. Gall writes that over 12 years, she lost friends and acquaintances in suicide bombings and shootings and saw others close to her savagely maimed.
“You don’t think it’s ever going to happen to you,” Gall tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross. “You’re always focused on the story. To tell you the truth, that’s what drives you.”
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