This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies and today for Terry Gross. Our guest, Matthew Aikens,

is a Canadian-born journalist who is reported on Afghanistan and the Middle East since 2008.

He was in Afghanistan from June through November last year, covering the chaotic withdrawal

of American forces and its aftermath. He had the lead byline for the New York Times story,

reporting that the drone strike in Kabul, which US military officials claimed had taken out a

car bomb threatening American troops, was in fact mistakenly targeted at an aid worker,

killing him and nine others, including seven children. For his first book, Aikens tells the story

of joining his longtime Afghan interpreter and driver in his 2016 journey to flee the country

along smuggler's routes and reach Europe. To accompany his friend, Aikens had to ditch his own

identity and passport and assume the role of an Afghan refugee. Aikens says his ethnic background

makes him look uncannily Afghan. The experience gave Aikens an intimate look at some of the Afghans,

Syrians, and others risking everything to start new lives through this massive movement of humanity.

The book is a story of tough choices and at times harrowing experiences,

trekking over land and sea. Matthew Aikens is a contributing writer for the New York Times and a

contributing editor at Rolling Stone. His reporting has won numerous honors, including the George

Pope and Livingstone Awards. His new book is The Naked Don't Fear the Water, an underground

journey with Afghan refugees. Matthew Aikens, welcome back to Fresh Air. Let's start with the reading

from the book. This is a moment that I've asked you to share with us. It'll give us a sense of

the writing and one of the more troubling moments that you encountered in this long journey. You want to

just set up what's happening here? Yeah, sure, my pleasure. I mean, this is a moment in the narrative

where my friend Omar and I have finally made it to Turkey after various trials and tribulations,

crossing borders, and Omar is found a smuggler who's going to send us to the Greek islands on one

...