On Friday night on my radio show I was interviewing Sir Nicholas Barrington about his new book, ENVOY. Sir Nicholas had spent a lot of time as a diplomat in Afghanistan. Indeed, it was his first posting. During the show I had to read out the tragic news that a bomb blast had killed 14 people in Kabul. Little did I realise that one of the people killed was one of my authors at Biteback.
Last night I received an email from my friend Raheem Kassam to tell me that Dr Alexandros Petersen had been a victim of the blast. Raheem had introduced me to him a few months ago as he wanted to publish a biography of the Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvilli. It was a really sound proposal and we agreed it would come out on the 5th anniversary of the events in South Ossetia in August this year. All was going well. He had secured John McCain to wrote a foreword and writing was proceeding with his co-author Richard Cashman.
As I understand it, Alexandros had just started a new job as a professor at the American University in Kabul. He was an incredibly talented student of international politics and geo-strategy, as THIS BLOGPOST, written only a week ago, demonstrates. You find out more about Alexandros on his website HERE.
A young life has been cut tragically short by the actions of Taliban terrorists. All of us at Biteback send our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.
Our sympathies also go to the families of the other victims, who included aspirant Labour MEP candidate Del Singh and former soldier Simon Chase. it’s impossible to imagine what their families are going through.
