Editor's note: "Enduring Freedom" was released in May of 2021, prior to the U.S. withdrawal.
September 2021 marked the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and it was especially significant due to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the resulting Taliban takeover.
Trent Reedy, co-author of the recently released novel, "Enduring Freedom," served as a combat engineer in the Iowa Army National Guard and did a tour in Afghanistan where he met and befriended co-author, Jawad Arash.
Reedy joined New Day NW to share his experiences in Afghanistan, lessons learned from his unlikely friendship with Arash (who has gone into hiding,) and their mutual hope for the future of Afghanistan.
ABOUT THE CO-AUTHORS:
Jawad Arash's home country of Afghanistan has been at war throughout his entire life. Nevertheless, Jawad remained optimistic for his future. Despite challenges imposed by war or harsh Taliban regulations, he developed a love for learning and wanted to help build a new and better Afghanistan through educating people. He began teaching English while he was still in high school. Later, he earned a B.A. in English, and his master’s in Linguistics/TESL. "Enduring Freedom" is his debut novel.
Trent Reedy served as a combat engineer in the Iowa Army National Guard from 1999 to 2005, including a year’s tour of duty in Afghanistan, where he befriended Jawad Arash. Based upon his experiences there, he wrote his debut middle-grade novel, "Words in the Dust," which won the Christopher Medal and was chosen for Al Roker’s Book Club for Kids on the Today show. His novels "Stealing Air," "If You’re Reading This," and the "Divided We Fall" trilogy were Junior Library Guild selections. His seventh novel, "Gamer Army," was published in late 2018. Trent also writes a weekly military life column for the Washington Examiner. He lives with his family outside Spokane, Washington.
Segment Producer Suzie Wiley. Watch New Day Northwest 11 AM weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.