MY LIFE -- FROM BRIGAND TO KING
Autobiography of Amir Habibullah

Amir Habibullah

Octagon Press, London, 1990

In 1929 a ruthless, illiterate brigand chief called Bacha Saquo -- 'son of a water carrier' -- overthrew Amanullah Khan in a bloody coup, and declared himself King of Afghanistan. The ensuing nine months, until the heroic Nadir Shah and his brothers deposed the outlaw, is referred to by the Afghans as the Reign of Terror.

This book is Bacha Saquo's own story, as dictated to his companion Jamal Gul, and translated from Jamal's original Persian. From childhood murder and arson, to his last days in prison before the firing squad, Bacha Saquo's narrative is without a trace of remorse.

His description of a cunning ascent to 'king' of brigands is disarmingly engaging. He tells of a wandering Mullah who fired his royal ambitions with a prophecy of kingship. And in a matter-of-fact style, he recounts the strategies and tactics of terror, torture and extortion which were his methods of rule.

From Brigand to King is a shocking look through the eyes and mind of one of the most ruthless dictators of the century. It shows us patterns of human thought and behavior that make this phenomena an ever-present possibility.

...even in the turbulent story of Afghanistan, the Reign of Terror was of such unprecedented horror and abnormality that usual standards cannot be applied to it.
--From My Life: From Brigand to King © 1990 by Octagon Press