# Silk Road Books & Photos

## Afghanistan Travel Literature (Page 7 of 8)

#### 61 | #### Van Dyk Jere | #### In Afghanistan An American Odyssey
Hardback 253 Coward McCann Inc NY First Edition 1983. An account of travels with the Mujahideen around S.E Afghanistan and Kandahar during the early years of the Soviet Invasion. Jere and the band of Mujahedin he is with find themselves cut off by Communist troops who surround them but bravely manage to shoot their way out to safety. Jere meets a Mujahed who is an excellent sniper and who raised people’s spirits in Kandahar by going near the Soviet held airport and shooting up the tyre of a Soviet transport plane, which raised Kandhari people’s morale, at a time when they were coming under relentless Soviet attack. However, Jere discovers that this Mujahed sniper has a harrowing experience of loss. Before becoming a Mujahedin the sniper had lived in Mazar E Sharif but one day whilst he was at work Soviet troops broke into his house and raped and murdered his wife. His two young children were in a refugee camp in Pakistan as this brave warrior fought against Soviet oppression. This book was recommended for a Pulitzer prize and is a well written account of a remarkable period of social change. £16
#### 62 | #### Vollmann William T | #### An Afghan Picture Show Or How I saved the World
Farrar Straus and Giroux NY. Hardback in dust wrapper. This book is about Afghans in Pakistan, in the main and Vollman even gets a Pakistani official to force an Afghan Refugee to remove his wife’s burka so that he can take a photo. Vollman then sells these photos in the US to raise money for Afghan refugees but actually makes an overall financial loss! The satirical justification for taking the photos was that Americans like to see exotic “tits”. This is a book of questionable merit, if you want a book which details the position in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation, this definitely is not it. £45
#### 63 | #### Zaeef, Abdul Salam | #### My Life with the Taliban
## 1990s
#### 64 | #### Elliot Jason | #### An unexpected light
A wonderful travel account set in Afghanistan before 1996 under the Mujahideen government, Kabul is under siege by the Taliban the Author is fluent in Persian (SOAS Graduate) and travels throughout Northern Afghanistan. At prayer in the mosque of Herat, an old man advises him on errors he made in his prayer performance and Elliot is touched with the gentle manner in which the old man explains Elliot’s mistakes. Elliot had expected to be harangued as an imposter in the mosque. This book became a best seller in the US and this is the first English Edition. £50
#### 65 | #### Gall, Sandy | #### News from the Front a Television Reporter’s life
Hardback in dust wrapper 1994. Gall gives a fasincating eye witness account of the fall of Kabul to Massoud’s Mujahedin in April 1992. As new. £12 ## Post Sept 2001
#### 66 | #### Armstrong Sally | #### Bitter Roots Tender Shoots –The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan’s Women
Viking Publishers page 276. Hardback in dust wrapper first edition 2008. £16
#### 67 | #### Burke James | #### On the Road to Kandahar travels through conflict in the Islamic World
Hardback in dust wrapper 2006 297 pages. The author travels around Afghanistan before and after the US occupation. At a roadblock he meets Northern Alliance fighters who have captured four young Pakistani men near Jalalabad and are beating them in a hut. The commander then pulls out a rusty knife to finish them all off and orders Burke out of the hut. Burke tries not to think of what has happened to these prisoners as he heads towards Kabul. A highly recommended read. £18
#### 68 | #### Gannon, Kathy | #### I is for Infidel
From Holy War to holy Terror: 18 years inside Afghanistan. Journalist highlights the links between Bin Laden and the Northern Alliance which invited the latter back to Afghanistan in 1995. The failure of the Taliban to appreciate the consequences of killing Najib who was under Un protection. The UN punishment of the Taliban by failing to supply aid and assistance to Afghanistan despite the ending of poppy cultivation under the Taliban. The perverse current situation with increase in Poppy production and restoration of UN assistance. The author also highlights the links between the resurgent Taliban and the ISI. Mint in hardback with dw. 1st edition 2005. 186 pages. £20
#### 69 | #### Lamb, Christina | #### Sewing Circles of Heart
Hardback in dust wrapper first edition very good condition. Lamb initially went to Afghanistan during the 1980s and attended the siege of Jalalabad where a desperate Afghan mother beseeches Lamb to assist in taking her critically wounded child for medical attention to Pakistan but Lamb dismisses the poor mother because Lamb is after a better story. After the Soviet departure Lamb does not return to Afghanistan until the events of 2001. Lamb then became a vociferous supporter of the Karzai regime and Western intervention until more recently realizing the error of her ways. £20
#### 70 | #### Rall Ted | #### To Afghanistan And Back
A Graphic Travelogue by Ted Rall, who goes to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban and gives good insights into Afghan Society following the US intervention in that country. Mint in DW. During the battle against the Taliban journalists are warned by General Fahim that they are not safe to remain with his Mujahedin overnight at the frontline since they are likely to be robbed. Rall highlights the death of a Swedish journalist in a Mujahedin controlled area whose money was then stolen by the murderers. £20
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