MaryAnn T. Beverly is an Ohio native who has made her home in Columbia, SC for the past 25 years. A former high school English teacher and married mother of two, she left teaching to write and direct a documentary movie, “The Arts in Education,” in Cali, Colombia, South America. After 9-11 and the invasion of Afghanistan, she learned about freedom fighter Ahmed Shah Massoud who was assassinated on the order of Osama bin Laden only two days before 19 suicide bombers attacked our country. As Beverly began to conduct extensive research on the man the Afghan people call The Lion of Panjshir, she discovered a fascinating 30-year history between our two countries that begins with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and carries through the mistakes and blunders made by the CIA and five U.S. presidents.

In a recent interview on the Jim Bohanon Show, Beverly had this to say; "As we approach 2008, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Afghanistan is once again falling off the radar of US interest. Distracted by the war in Iraq, Afghanistan has become “the forgotten war” with little manpower and fewer resources than necessary being devoted to its security and stability. Once again both Al Qaeda and the Taliban are finding a safe-haven, and the people of both Afghanistan and the U.S. will pay the price for ongoing neglect of that country." 

In From That Flame, the author has laced an historically accurate account with an enhanced fictionalized back story to portray the late Ahmed Shah Massoud and his 20 year fight for the Afghan people.

During research, Beverly became friends with Zahir Sajanie, a mujahidin who spent over 20 years with Massoud. The freedom fighter opened many doors for her including an introduction to Ambassador Haroun Amin (see left), whose history in Afghanistan dates back to 1979 when he led protests against the Soviets after their invasion.  

In 1988 Amin joined Massoud in their fruitless quest to promote democracy and end the killing by the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. Amin fought side-by-side with the Lion of Panjshr until Massoud's assassination by Al Qaeda on Sept. 9, 2001.