Career
Ayar is the author of five books: Hamasa-e-Eman, Paqnjal Hae-e-Khoneen, Nawrooze tan Behrooz, Afghanistan – Jihad and Peace, and Afghan Hearts & Minds. John Iwasaki, in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, wrote that Ayar was critical of the Afghan regime: "With Karzai able to appoint one-third of the upper house of the Afghan legislature, it"s not democracy at all". Apart from the politics, wrote Iwasaki, Ayar saw Afghanistan in a poor state: "The roads were potholed even on streets in front of the Capitol", Ayar said, while "The only eggs he saw for sale were trucked in from Pakistan and Iran".
And while the Soviets had long gone (since 1989), "Twenty years is enough time for people to have chicken farms".
The poet Nicholas Klacsanzky, reviewing Afghan Hearts & Minds, wrote that "Through pleasant and conversational language, author Shafie Ayar induces the reader into a state of enjoying simple pleasures through his sincere gratitude for a life other than torture.".
