Offers a history of the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan--from a small band of religious students led by a one-eyed village leader in 1994 to the undenyable military force that took over the country three years later.

"First published : London : Bantam Press, 2010. "First published in Great Britain in 2010 by Bantam Press"--T.p. verso.

The tank of Islam : Kandahar, 1994 --The army of orphans : Peshawar, 1996 -- "Try not to hurt the people!" : Kabul, 1996-1998 -- The government that might have been, 1998-2000 -- The Al-Qaida hijack, 1999-2001 -- Surviving the daisycutters, 2001-2003 -- Like a jam-jar to a swarm of wasps : the insurgency explodes, 2003-2009 -- The McChrystal plan : sawing wood with a hammer -- "This one, this is the big one" : Mullah Zaeef and the prospects for peace -- The trouble with President Karzai -- Getting rich quick in Tajik Kabul -- Not so black and white, but grey : Hizb-i-Islami and the Afghan Parliament -- How to talk to the Taliban -- In the Jalalabad fief of Shirzai -- The Taliban of Chak.