This is more so because, for various reasons, voices from within Afghanistan are hardly ever heard outside.

In this scenario the autobiography of a senior former member of the Afghan Taliban, Abdul Salam Zaeef, attempts to fill part of the great void of original Afghan narratives that has impeded a more perceptive understanding of the conflict on the part of the international observer.

Originally written in Pushto, My Life with the Taliban offers an almost compelling counter-narrative to the mostly international and mainstream discourse on Afghanistan. The book details Zaeef's childhood, years of which were spent in refugee camps in Pakistan, and his teenage years during which he returned to Afghanistan to join the anti-Soviet jihad.

Born in 1968 in southern Afghanistan's Zangiabad village, Zaeef was one of the founding members of the Taliban, a group which, as the book points out, existed since the days of the anti-Soviet war.

Zaeef mentions the distinctions, as he saw them, between the ranks of the Taliban and the other Mujahideen fronts active at the time. He recounts his experiences from the unassisted, unequipped 'early days of the jihad' to the time when the Mujahideen acquired the capability to destroy Soviet tanks and helicopters.

He also refers to 'a special weapons training programme' that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) 'began to run' to assist the fighters against the occupation.

Along with the resistance, the book refers to major political developments throughout the country's conflict-ridden history and the state of war that it has been in since the time of the Soviet invasion.

Zaeef worked closely will Mullah Mohammad Omar and was designated the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan in 2000. His sketches of General Mahmud Ahmed, the then-director of the ISI; General Jailani (Ahmed's deputy); then-Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider, and former president Pervez Musharraf are interesting to say the least.

Throughout the book Zaeef remains dismissive of Pakistan and the ISI. This is strange considering that the Pakistani state is consistently accused of aiding the Afghan Taliban.

Among the accusations Zaeef levels at Pakistan is the charge that the Pakistan government has colluded with the Northern Alliance as part of 'a plot against the Emirate of Afghanistan.'

He tenaciously defends the Taliban government and although he does not discuss the Taliban's policies on women, Zaeef seems to resent that during his time as envoy certain ambassadors 'always' wanted to discuss the matter with him.

He also recalls the international pressure with regard to handing over Osama bin Laden and the pre-9/11 offer made by the US to 'drop all its other demands' and formally recognise 'the Emirate if he were handed over.'

After the attacks of September 11, 2001 Zaeef became perhaps the most sought after man in Islamabad. Recalling his last meeting with General Mahmud Ahmed and later on with former ISI official Sultan Tarar (who was famously known as Colonel Imam), he refers to the powerlessness expressed by Pakistani officials over America's threats of sending Pakistan 'back to the Stone Age.'

Nevertheless, and especially since his tiff with Gen Musharraf over an alleged assassination plot and a religious ruling issued against the invasion of Afghanistan (and those facilitating it), Zaeef began to feel that 'each day spent in Pakistan became more dangerous' for him.

Eventually he was arrested and handed over to American forces who kept him in the prisons in Bagram and Kandahar before finally shifting him to the Guantánamo Bay detentionfacility.

His autobiography expands on the treatment of those imprisoned there and the interrogation that they were made to undergo. There is mention of a 105-year-old prisoner in the facility who later became 'the first man to be released from the Hell of Guantánamo.' Zaeef himself was released in 2005. He was never charged with any crime.

While he is largely resentful of the international community and its subservience to US foreign policy, he does acknowledge the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) with regard to the prisoners detained in Bagram, Kandahar and Guantanamo. He thanks the organisation and wishes it 'every success for the future.'

His hatred of the occupation of his homeland remains a constant refrain throughout the memoir. Debunking the western concept of 'success' over 'extremist forces' in the current conflict, Zaeef demands to know why the world treats the US-led invasion differently from that of the Soviet variety.

My Life with the Taliban
(autobiography)
By Abdul Salam Zaeef
Hachette, India
ISBN 978-93-5009-214-9
331pp. Rs995