Delivering Osama

Taliban: A Critical History from Within by
Abdul Hai Mutma'in offers an inside account of
the Afghan movement and their government. In
his preface, the author notes that his book
will please neither supporters of the Taliban
nor those who fight and condemn them. It is
this trenchant quality that makes it unique
among the memoirs of those who used to work
for and with the Taliban. Mutma'in's account
often feels like a corrective, critical of
those outside the Taliban but also of the
movement itself. Whereas most books of this
kind stop with the invasion of the United
States in October 2001, Mutma'in shares the
story of how the Taliban fled, how resistance
was organised and how they grew into a potent
insurgency force. Mutma'in's book is essential
reading for anyone seeking to understand the
Taliban and recent Afghan history.