I haven't read And The Mountain Echoed but the author has been credited as being inspiring for Qais Akbar Omar.
It is a remarkably readable book and a page-turner, for a memoir and there are no blurring of the good and the evil.
A timely read and a window into the Afgan mentality and more understanding of the people.
One is wary of the feel-good elements in the plot but it doesn't feel contrived.