After five years, Marzouk left his Canadian wife and child in 1998, and flew to Turkey, where he is believed to have met with Ahmad Agiza before returning to Eastern Afghanistan. After his friend Hamed was killed in the American bombing of an Afghan training camp on August 20, as retaliation for the African embassy bombings, Marzouk flew to Dubai and onward to Europe, before quickly doubling back to Dubai and booking a flight to Azerbaijan.