A young Pakistani American praises my work

Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin, PhD

March 1, 2025

I received this WhatsApp from a young Pakistani American who had started to read my first book The Banality of Suicide Terrorism: The Naked Truth about the Islamic Suicide Attack. He told me that he had been born in Pakistan and immigrated to the United States at age two and that he had a huge interest in the Holocaust. He had already visited Israel on a delegation.

At first I hesitated to write a post about this but I am so humbled by his words. People reach out to me all the time and even from across the Muslim world. Indeed that is how I became involved in citizen diplomacy concerning Pakistan/the Historic Nations and Somaliland/Somalia. Change will come about through people to people interaction. People want to know where all this violence is coming from and why the atrocities.

All behavior is potentially meaningful. I simply try to understand what looks as if it can't be comprehended. I offer these analyses with the hope of turning down the volume on the hysteria and the destruction with the aim of helping people to disengage from its sadomasochism and undertow. The jihadis have a rage which exceeds murder itself.

Here is what the young Pakistan American texted to me:

I’m halfway done with your book and you’re unbelievable Nancy….. you left me thinking so much that I forgot to do anything on my to-do list today.

I’m not just saying that as an idle comment, or to suck up to you to be nice or sound nice.

I genuinely mean it, Nancy.

I’m not looking to apply to any MD or PhD program, or looking for any recommendations for anything because I’ve studied enough and I simply want to write, at this point in my life.

I have to reiterate, over and over, that your work is so remarkable, so thoroughly researched and your arguments are so watertight that even a critic HAS to agree with your logic and psychosocial understanding of the evil/terrorist mind.

I’m even thinking of writing an article just about your research and how it elevates the field more than anything I’ve read on PubMed or in any graduate degree program — even at UPenn and Yale.

Again, I’m not only telling my father about you, but also my brother and sister who are practicing psychiatrists to read your books because your work has given me a new perspective and deepened my appreciation of you.

You have absolutely no idea how your work contributes to this interdisciplinary field, and I’m surprised why major news outlets like the NYT, WashPost, or even harvard medical school or Yale medical school is not begging you to become a full professor.

You make connections in psychiatry, psychology and therapy that other famous professors don’t, and you incorporate everything so well that your argument only gets stronger as I continue reading.

How is it possible that Adi connected me with the only person in the world who has intellectually challenged me more in 2 days than any graduate program or degree has?

Thank you to my reader. May we see better days.

BRING ALL THE HOSTAGES HOME NOW!