University of Manchester and Conflict in Afghanistan

deadly conflict: Passarlay, a student at the University of Manchester and the author of "The Lightless Sky," says his story begins like many other refugees': with deadly conflict. "My family was directly in war in the conflict in Afghanistan," he told CTV Canada AM on Monday. "And it was becoming unbearable for me and my brother to attend school or live a normal life." Passarlay says his uncle was a Taliban commander, and his father and grandfather were suspected of hiding weapons for the group, and were killed in a shootout with U.S. troops, according to CTV. As the violence intensified, he and his brother found themselves caught between the two sides of the bloody conflict. "The Taliban wanted to recruit us to take revenge for our family members who were killed," Passarlay said. "And then the U.S.-backed Afghan government wanted us to work for them … "If we had done either of those things, we would certainly have been killed." Fearing for her sons' lives, Passarlay mother paid a human smuggler thousands of dollars to transport the boys as far as Italy. Ten years later, as thousands of migrants continue to make the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean, Passarlay is hoping a new book about his experiences will inspire "compassion and love" towards those fleeing violence. Passarlay says he was "terrified" to leave his country and his family, but the journey took an even more harrowing turn when he lost his brother at the Peshawar airport. I was at the mercy of human smugglers, traffickers and agents. Alone and reliant on human smugglers, Passarlay forged on, travelling from country to country in search of safety and his brother. "The sad reality is when I took this journey, I went through so much hardship," he said. "I actually experienced hell. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.