jostling for money and power, competing forces are fighting for the wealth buried deep in the hindu kush mountains. that wealth is precious rubies, which fetch a handsome sum, especially when smuggled across the border. i'm steve chow. on this edition of 101 east, we look at the lives of afghan ruby miners who are risking it all chasing crystal dreams.

jostling for money and power, competing forces are fighting for the wealth buried deep in the hindu kush mountains. that wealth is precious rubies, which fetch a handsome sum, especially when smuggled across the border. i'm steve chow. on this edition of 101 east, we look at the lives of afghan ruby miners who are risking it all chasing crystal dreams.

asked him to share details about his most difficult assignment, three weeks walking the hindu kush mountainis four books, the most recent two being novels. >> they both came out of my reporting in a sense. the list is set in london in 1945 and is about jewish refugees getting on after the holocaust. "jacob's oath" is the same issue set in germany in 1945. the relationship between the novels and my work as a journalist, i was always looking for the story that told the bigger story. i would always meet people on the worst day of their lives. that was my job for 35 years. the question i had apart from the daily reporting was, what do you do now? how do you get on with the rest of your life after your child's been killed or after all the terrible things that happened for everyone is this that was always the question i had. that brought me to my own family which was wiped out in the holocaust. my parents and their generation. how did they get on with the rest of their lives? it fascinates me today. they are heroes, the people who pick up the pieces and carry on. i don't know how you do it. >> yo