My Life with the Taliban - Softcover

Zaeef, Mullah Abdul Salam

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1849041520 ISBN 13: 9781849041522

Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd, 2011

Synopsis

Abdul Zaeef describes growing up in poverty in rural Kandahar province, which he fled for Pakistan after the Russian invasion of 1979. Zaeef joined the jihad in 1983, was seriously wounded in several encounters and met many leading figures of the resistance, including the current Taliban head, Mullah Mohammad Omar. Disgusted by the lawlessness that ensued after the Soviet withdrawal, Zaeef was one among the former mujahidin who were closely involved in the emergence of the Taliban, in 1994. He then details his Taliban career, including negotiations with Ahmed Shah Massoud and role as ambassador to Pakistan during 9/11. In early 2002 Zaeef was handed over to American forces in Islamabad and spent four and a half years in prison in Bagram and Guantanamo before being released without charge. My Life with the Taliban offers insights into the Pashtun village communities that are the Taliban's bedrock and helps to explain what drives men like Zaeef to take up arms against the foreigners who are foolish enough to invade his homeland.

About this title

Review:

'The only detailed insider account of the Taliban is a memoir by Abdul Salam Zaeef, the movement's former ambassador to Pakistan. Zaeef is no spokesman for Mullah Omar and the Quetta shura. But My Life with the Taliban usefully shows that its leaders saw themselves as nationalists, reformers and liberators rather than Islamist ideologues.' --London Review of Books

'The first book from inside the Taliban could not be better timed. Abdul Salam Zaeef was one of the founding members of the group and held senior positions within it, ending up as ambassador to Pakistan.' --Sunday Times

'Spies, generals and ambassadors will pounce on this book, poring over its pages for clues to a way out of the Afghan morass.' --Sunday Telegraph

From the Author:

Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef was the Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan during 9/11. He was subsequently imprisoned in Guantanamo before being released without charge. This is his story. Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn are researchers and writers permanently based in Kandahar. In 2006 they founded AfghanWire.com, an organisation and website that pursues awareness of Afghani issues and opinions largely unrecognised by the international media.

About this edition

• Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1849041520
• ISBN 13: 9781849041522
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 360
• Editor: Strick Van Linschoten Alex, Kuehn Felix