Summary

The Prologue begins with the news that 600 Taliban wanted to surrender in Mazar-i-Sharif to American and Northern Alliance forces. The news was unsettling because Taliban forces believed that they would go to paradise only if they died fighting. These fighters did not usually surrender. Major Mark Mitchell watched as the 600 Taliban crowded into trucks drove past the schoolhouse in which the Americans had set up headquarters. Mazar-i-Sharif had been under Taliban rule for three years before the Americans had run them out just days prior. Mitchell was looking forward to helping the people of the village heal from the atrocities done to both the city and its people. He was also looking forward to going home.

Mitchell knew that if anything went wrong with the Taliban prisoners, he had only about 12 men he could call on to help in the fight against...