Last updated: 18 september, 2009 - 13:29 GMT
Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, left Afghanistan at the age of 11 when his diplomat father was posted to Paris.
A few years later the Russians invaded his homeland and his family sought asylum in the US.
Khaled has lived in California for most of his life where he worked as a doctor.
While his first bestselling book evokes his early life, the Kabul he left behind has now become a very different place, war-damaged and struggling to function.
Khaled recently returned to Afghanistan as a goodwill envoy with the click United Nation's High Commission for Refugees.
He talked to Outlook's Lucy Ash about that visit to his home country and his shock at what he found there after three decades of conflict.
