Zaeef, Abdul Salam, 1967 or 1968-.

Strick van Linschoten, Alex.

Kuehn, Felix,

DLC

Abdul Salam Zaeef ; edited by Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn.

New York : Columbia University Press, 2010.

xlvii, 331 p. : ill. maps ; 22 cm.

9780231701488
9780231701495
9780231800457

2009040865

,Z̤aʻīf, ʻAbd al-Salām, 1967 or 1968-.

,Taliban -- Biography.

,Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp -- Biography.

Afghan War, 2001-
Biography.
Prisoners of war
Biography.
Afghanistan
Prisoners of war
Biography.
United States

DS371.33. / Z34 2010

Library of Congress Classification / Monograph

00016847, 00035383

“Translated from the Pashto and introduced by Alex Strick Van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn ; foreword by Barnett R. Rubin”—cover page.

Abstract: "My Life with the Taliban is the autobiography of Abdul Salam Zaeef, a former senior member of Afghanistan's Taliban and a principal actor in its domestic and foreign affairs. Translated for the first time from the Pashto, Zaeef's words share more than a personal history of an unusual life. They supply a counter narrative to standard accounts of Afghanistan since 1979. Zaeef shares his experiences as a poor youth in rural Kandahar. Both his parents died when he was young, and Russia's invasion in 1979 forced Zaeef to flee to Pakistan. In 1983, Zaeef joined the jihad against the Soviets, fighting alongside several major figures of the anti-Soviet resistance, including current Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. After the war, he returned to his quiet life in Helmand, but factional conflicts soon broke out, and Zaeef, disgusted by the ensuing lawlessness, joined with other former mujahidin to form the Taliban, which assumed power in 1994. Zaeef recounts his time with the organization, first as a civil servant and then as a minister who negotiated with foreign oil companies and Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Afghani resistance. Zaeef served as ambassador to Pakistan at the time of 9/11, and his testimony sheds light on the "phoney war" that preceded the U.S.-led intervention. In 2002, Zaeef was delivered to the American forces operating in Pakistan and spent four and a half years in prison, including several years in Guantanamo, before being released without trial or charge. His reflections offer a privileged look at the communities that form the bedrock of the Taliban and the forces that motivate men like Zaeef to fight. They also provide an illuminating perspective on life in Guantanamo"--Jacket.