On the last day of his life, writer and savant Ikbal Ali Shah posted a brown manila envelope to his son Idries Shah – an envelope containing the ‘Afghan Notebook’. In time, the document was presented to Tahir. And with it, the obsession for the lost treasure of Ahmed Shah Durani was passed on.

 

The secretive search for the massive hoard of Mughal India – valued at more than $500 billion – took Tahir Shah to all corners of Afghanistan. Crisscrossing what is surely the most dangerous country on earth, Shah pieced together the clues – many laid down more than a century before.

 

Part detective tale and part treasure trail, The Afghan Notebook is a fast-paced extravaganza of a journey – revealing Afghanistan through its stories and folklore. More than a decade in the writing, it’s been hailed as Shah’s most unusual and dazzling work.