Taliban: the unknown enemy

Introduction

Part I

1. The Tank of Islam: Kandahar, 1994

2. The Army of Orphans: Peshawar, 1996

3. 'Try Not to Hurt the People!': Kabul, 1996-1998

4. The Government that Might Have Been, 1998-2000

5. The Al-Qaida Hijack, 1999-2001

6. Surviving the Daisycutters, 2001-2003

7. Like a Jam-jar to a Swarm of Wasps: The Insurgency Explodes, 2003-2009

Part II

8. The McChrystal Plan: Sawing Wood with a Hammer

9. 'This One, This Is the Big One': Mullah Zaeef and the Prospects for Peace

10. The Trouble with President Karzai

11. Getting Rich Quick in Tajik Kabul

12. Not Black and White, But Grey: Hizb-i-Islami and the Afghan Parliament

13. How to Talk to the Taliban

14. In the Jalalabad Fief of Shirzai

15. The Taliban of Chak

Postscript

Notes

Bibliography

Picture Credits

Index

Illustrations