Koran, Kalashnikov and Laptop: The Neo-Taliban Insurgency in Afghanistan 2002-2007

Giustozzi has written a very dry, factual book on the nature of the Taliban's return to Afghanistan after the Northern Alliance's victory. It is solid non-partisan reportage in which he looks at the Taliban's strengths, weakness, mistakes and successes. So often nowadays recent history is portrayed as a struggle between demons and angels, between the clever and the foolish; this book makes it clear both sides (and all the third parties) are learning as they are going. All of his analysis resonated with the views of the authors of the "fighting books" on topics like the Brits in Helmand.The book is dry, it is more BBC4 than BBC1, and this will mean some readers will find it less entertaining but it is well worth, I think, understanding the three dimensional nature of the opposing party.