Phil Halton's Blog, page 5

In Support of the Short Story

I’m sometimes surprised when I find that new writers have decided to tackle a novel, and often it seems a series, as their first publishable work. That’s not to say that it’s not possible, or even not advisable, but I think that there is a key tool in the development of a writer’s skills that is often overlooked – the short story.

What is a short story? It can sometimes be difficult to define a one based on word count alone, although many publication that accept them do so. (My own publication, Blood & Bourbon, likes them to be quite short, 2500 words or less) The best definition I have found, though, is not based on word count at all. Edgar Allen Poe said that a short story was one that could be read in a single sitting. Perhaps our shortening attention spans are the reason for the new prevalence of flash fiction.

Much as it would seem odd for a painter’s first canvas to be a billboard, or a carpenter’s first project to be a house, there is a real benefit from tackling smaller projects first. Writing is a craft, and there are many different tools that a writer should master to be able to effectively tell a story. Not all of these tools, or the effects they create, will necessarily fit within one story, no matter the length. The simplest way to practice a broad set of skills is through the creation of multiple short stories. In this manner one can practice different points of view, different styles of language, and different narrative devices.

A well-constructed short story is akin to a bonsai tree rather than a branch or mere cutting. It should incorporate all of the same elements one would find in a larger work, such as a novel, except only smaller. One of the problems that a writer must overcome is to tell a story in a satisfying way, and by this I mean that all the different elements and components of the story must work in harmony with each other. This is not necessarily simpler in a short story than in a novel, but certainly the time expended and the consequences of failure are much less with a short story.

Many of the most respected writers of the 20thcentury wrote short stories for popular conception, even once they had been established as novelists. Edgar Allen Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Alice Munro, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ray Bradbury, Jack London, William Faulkner, and many others.

And so, my advice to writers when they are still learning the basics of the craft, when they’re stuck on something in their current project, when they want to try something new, or they want to hone their skills with a particular element of storytelling, is to write a short story. Doing it well is harder than many might suspect, but the potential rewards are much greater than the sum of the time spent.

(And if you write a great short story, consider submitting to Blood & Bourbon!)

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Defining Success

This blog post is more personal than the ones I typically write, but there is something that I have been reflecting on lately that I wanted to share. This is the idea of being “successful.” A nebulous concept at best, it’s one that nearly all of us spend our lives chasing after. And so, particularly as a writer, how does one define success?

When I gave up a corporate job to write full-time, and particularly to work on a novel full-time, my friends and family can be forgiven for their doubts. What percentage of people who start out to write a novel fail? I don’t know for certain, but it must be on the order of 99+%.

What’s even more daunting, when you really begin to think about it, are the many different plateaus that you can reach that would count as failure. 

What if you never came up with a concept for a novel?

What if you did, and you managed to write a novel, but it was terrible?

What if you wrote a novel that was actually pretty good, but couldn’t get it published?

What if it was published, but was critically panned? Or commercially unsuccessful?

Or what if you wrote an incredible novel, and it was commercially and critically successful, what then? What if you wrote one great thing, and then you choked and never wrote another? Were you a success or a failure? What gauge should you use to determine success?

Thankfully for me, I realized very early on in my writing work that the difference between success and failure was often one of perspective. My “failures” might very well represent achievements of which others would be envious. (Anyone ever been rejected by a literary journal? Simply writing something worthy of submission would be a success to many…)

I also realized that I would have to define “success” for myself, and would have to keep coming back to that definition to evaluate whether it still fit. I’m a traditionally published author with a starred review from BookList, and I recently optioned a feature film screenplay as well. How do I define success? That I’m financially able to keep on writing, and nothing more. As long as I keep writing, then I have an enormous potential to fulfill. As soon as I stop, my legacy is carved in stone. And so, I keep on writing.

With a new novel essentially complete (less some rewrites and edits), this whole issue of “success” (and failure) has reared its ugly head and made me feel doubt. I doubt whether this new novel is as good as the last, or if I’ll be able to get started on a third novel when this one is done. I’ve stalled and prevaricated through many rewrites of this current work, until it felt like I was just pushing the words around on the page with a mop.

Until, that is, I sat down and went back to how I decided to define success in the first place.

I’m successful if I just keep writing.

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Review: A Case of Exploding Mangoes

Mohammed Hanif is a British-Pakistani writer, journalist and playwright, who published the acclaimed novel “A Case of Exploding Mangoes” in 2008. A dark, political satire, it was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2008 and won the Commonwealth Book Prize for Best First Book in 2009.

The novel is a fictitious version of the events behind the 1988 plane crash that killed the dictatorial president of Pakistan, General Zia-ul-Haq. Zia was a staunch ally of the United States, and was the conduit through which tremendous amounts of aid flowed to the anti-Soviet mujahideen. Although conspiracy theories abound regarding the cause of the plane crash, Hanif doesn’t “solve” the mystery for the reader. In fact, he may only complicate our understanding of the assassination by showing us how many different actors had a motive: including the CIA, rogue elements in the Pakistani military, Indian intelligence, Russian intelligence, and his own main character, Pakistani Air Force Academy cadet Ali Shigri.

Like his main character, Hanif was a pilot officer and graduate of the Pakistani Air Force Academy, and his knowledge of the small details of cadet life shine through. He paints a darkly comedic picture of this slice of Pakistani society, who are simultaneously part of a powerful elite and subjugated by stifling rules and customs.

These kinds of juxtapositions are how Hanif tends to describe Pakistani society, which is rife with cultural opposites – drinking, drug use and individualism co-exist along with Islamism, religious radicalism and patriotism. This tension within society, between tradition and modernity, is also illustrated by Ali’s ongoing love affair with his male roommate.

The story is carried forward by the fact that Ali blames Zia for the death of his father, an alleged suicide, and seeks his revenge. As he does so, he uncovers layers upon layers of conspiracy and corruption, eventually landing in a secret prison that he realizes was set up by his own father. 

This is the kind of irony and satire at which Hanif excels, although his writing is at its very best when he is creating character sketches. Even minor figures in the story are drawn in ways that make them both hilarious and unforgettable. 

“A Case of Exploding Mangoes” is a very entertaining look at Pakistani society in the 1980s, a “desi” version of Catch-22 that should be more widely read than it is. 

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Red Group – The Taliban “Special Forces”

The public perception of the war in Afghanistan is dominated by the image of Special Forces soldiers, although they are a small part of the international military effort in the country. Numerous western films, some based on real events, have contributed to this idea. It is small wonder, then, that the Taliban have themselves worked to create a similar image of their own special forces unit: the “Sara Kheta” or “Red Group.”

Most Taliban-aligned insurgent groups operate near their homes, and are motivated by local grievances. Talban spokespersons first mentioned the Red Group in 2016, when they were described as operating in Sangin. By the end of 2018, Taliban spokespersons have said that they are operating all across the country, including in many provinces where Taiban support is low. Rather than operating in a true “special operations” role, they seem to primarily be used to spearhead attacks against the Afghan National Army. Interestingly, the Red Group was also allegedly involved in the “Battle of Darzab” against ISIL in Jowzjan Province.

Red Group’s Equipment

The Red Group is believed to be equipped with better equipment than the average Taliban fighter, and in fact, better than the average member of the Afghan National Army. They reportedly use night vision equipment, and a mix of old Russian weapons (such as the ubiquitous Kalashnikov but also Tokarev pistols) and captured modern ones (such as M4 carbines).

The most striking thing about them in the videos, however, is their matching uniforms and and equipment. All are equipped with the kind of personal gear – elbow pads, knee pads, tactical gloves, helmets, chest rigs – that are the hallmarks of Western military units, and some of the better equipped Afghan National Army units as well.

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Red Group’s Training

The Taliban have taken some steps to professionalize their forces, such as through the publication of a set of “rules” for all their members. There has been a lot of derisive commentary about the heavily produced videos released by the Taliban that show the Red Group training. It is little more than calisthenics, and many of the soldiers seem to have difficulty keeping up. Their weapon handling also seems amateurish, and not up to even a basic Western military standard. While these criticisms may be true, they also miss the point: whatever their military effectiveness, their real boon to the Taliban is as propaganda.

The Red Group as Propaganda

When analyzing propaganda, there are three elements to consider: the message, the target audience, and the intended effect. Using this framework to consider the videos available showing the Sara Kheta, their purpose becomes more clear.

The message in these images and videos is simply that the Taliban have modern, highly effective soldiers who are the equivalent of the Western Special Forces. And given that they are seen training in daylight with a Humvee captured from the Afghan National Army, able to fly the Taliban flag with impunity, it would seem that they are in control of parts of the country. 

The target audience for the videos and images can be deduced from the languages used in them – Dari, Pashto and Urdu. If this material was meant to convince Western audiences of the efficacy of the Red Force, they could easily have been produced or sub-titled in English. This has been seen in the propaganda effort of al Qaeda and other groups. The fact that the only languages used are local ones suggests that the target audience is the Afghan (and perhaps Pakistan) people alone. The Western pundit criticizing the handling drills on display misses the point that the intended audience is likely not looking at those things. 

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The videos reinforce the perception among the general Afghan populace that the Taliban are a competent military force. They likely also appeal to potential recruits, who see the opportunity to join a military group who are equal to or better than the forces of the Afghan National Army. The presence of children observing the Red Group in the photo above, very similar to the common photos of children observing Western soldiers in Afghanistan, is very telling.

Actual Special Forces operations in Afghanistan are typified by the night raid to kill or capture suspected insurgent leaders. There is a strong sense of the inviolability of the home in Afghanistan, and so the violence of such raids aside, they are seen as a cultural affront as well. The suddenness of these raids makes the Special Forces soldier somewhat of a “bogeyman” to Afghans, and so the suggestion that there is an equivalent Afghan force ready to fight them is also part of the message.

Conclusion

The Afghan National Army and Police have been suffering a steady drumbeat of defeats across the country, and has suffered over 28,000 casualties since 2015 alone. There is no question that the insurgents, in general, are at least their match in combat. And while the actual military value of the Sara Kheta can be questioned, their value as a propaganda tool is undeniable.

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Review: Descent into Chaos

Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid leapt into prominence outside of his home country when, post 9/11, Western journalists poured into Afghanistan to report on the conflict there. Little had been written about the Taliban at that time, and so many of them clutched Rashid’s first book published in 1999, “Taliban.”

Since that time, Rashid has become one of the most respected voices on the conflict in Afghanistan, a position that was secured in part by his second book, “Descent into Chaos.” Despite being first published in 2008, it is still the definitive work on the geo-political roots of the conflict in Afghanistan. Much of the analysis he put forward at that time remains the accepted interpretation today.

Rashid’s work benefits from the many years, indeed a lifetime, he has spent in the region interacting with he many actors involved in the in the conflict. This gives him insight that no foreign journalist, no matter how well connected or academically credentialed, can match.

One of the key points he makes is that it is Western policy itself that has led us into a decades long conflict, not anything inherent in the situation itself. This is perhaps an unpopular opinion, but an important one for policy-makers to hear.

The Taliban were swept from power in 2001 by a combination of Special Forces, airpower, and tribal militias with Western support. The speed with which the regime crumbled was indicative of how badly they had alienated the Afghan population through their policies of repression. This created a window for effective action.

This was not to be, however. The United States quickly became distracted by the conflict in Iraq, and Afghanistan was largely left to languish. The crucial years from 2001 to 2006, when insurgent groups lacked the strength to conduct major operations, was squandered. After five years of empty promises, people once again turned to insurgent groups such as a resurgent Taliban in hopes of improving their lives.

The production of opium, at historically low levels in 2001 and for the following few years, exploded in 2006 and has grown ever since. Violence across the country has increased year on year since then, and today the Taliban are once again operating in over 75% of the country. The very fact that the West is fighting the Taliban a second time, and losing, is an indictment of our policies of the past two decades. This second war against the Taliban was not necessary, if only winning the peace had been given the same consideration as toppling the regime in the first place.

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Malalai of Maiwand

Women in Afghanistan are perhaps thought of as meek or downtrodden, hidden beneath their chadors and subjugated by men. These stereotypes ignore the fact that even though Afghanistan remains one of the worst places in the world to be a woman, Afghan women are making headway against gale force cultural winds.

Examples of women’s courage and success in Afghanistan abound:

the internationally competitive “Afghan Girls Robotics Team” from HeratFawzia Koofi, parliamentarian and Vice President of the National AssemblyNiloofar Rahmani, a transport pilot in the Afghan National Air ForceBibi Ayeshi, an anti-Taliban “warlord”

One of the most famous women of Afghanistan is the folk hero “Malalai of Maiwand,” the namesake of modern Pakistani heroine Malala Yousafzai. Her story is part of a rich oral tradition of courage and resistance against invaders that continues to be repeated to the day.

The 2nd Anglo-Afghan War

During the 2nd Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880), the British occupied parts of Afghanistan with troops from India. One force was centred on Kabul, while the other was garrisoned in Kandahar. The deposed Emir’s son, Ayub Khan, led a large Afghan army composed of irregular volunteers, mercenaries and ghazis (religious fighters). Although he would eventually be defeated, Ayub Khan managed to inflict a number of stunning feats on the British troops. One of these victories was at the Battle of Maiwand.

The Battle of Maiwand

On the morning of 27 July, 1880, a British force of two brigades commanded by Brigadier-General George Burrows clashed with Ayub Khan’s army, which was at least twice the size. The battlefield was constricted by the Maiwand pass, and for the first few hours was little more than an artillery duel. When the British guns on their left flank ran out of ammunition and withdraw, the troops on that flank collapsed, nearly leading to a rout. Ayub Khan held the field of victory, but at tremendous losses.

Malalai’s father, a shepherd, and her fiancé, both joined the Army opposing the British that day. In some versions of the story, the day of the battle wa also her planned wedding day. She accompanied them on the battlefield, as did many Afghan women, to carry water and ammunition. The common picture of Afghan women today has them completely covered by a chador (or burqa), but this is a cultural rather than a religious requirement, and was not common at the time. Instead, Malalai and the other women present likely wore only a veil (or hijab).

Malalai’s Famous Words

I’ve written elsewhere about the love of poetry in Afghanistan, and the words attributed to Malalai are some of the most famous poems or songs in Afghan culture. While the artillery battle was ongoing, the Afghan forces allegedly began to lose heart. Malalai famously exhorted her fiancé with two lines that have become famous:

Young love! If you do not fall in the battle of Maiwand,
By God, someone is saving you as a symbol of shame!

When once again the Afghan forces seemingly lost heart, she appeared again to motivate them. Taking up a flag from a fallen warrior, or in some versions fashioning a flag from her veil, she sang a short song:

With a drop of my sweetheart’s blood,
Shed in defense of the Motherland,
Will I put a beauty spot on my forehead,
Such as would put to shame the rose in the garden!

Encouraged by her words, Ayub Khan’s forces won the battle, though at a terrible cost. Amongst the dead was Malalai herself.

Ayub Khan recognized her bravery, and ordered that she be buried with great ceremony in her native village on the edge of the battlefield. A shrine has grown up around her grave, which can be visited to this day.

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A Tour of my Bookshelves

I’ve written before about the concept of tsundoku, and I must admit that I am an avid practitioner. The fact that I have a pile of books waiting to be read is no obstacle to me buying more books. I have a modest collection of about 1500 books that are prominently displayed throughout my house. And if you are anything like me, whenever I’m at a friend’s house, I take a look through their bookshelves to see what they’re reading and what they’ve read.

While you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can certainly judge a person by their book collection.

(not that we should be judging each other…)

And so, in that spirit, I decided to give a bit of a tour of some of the stranger book sin my collection, and how I came about having them. This could easily become a very long post, and so I’ll limit myself to only a handful of books.

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The Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia, Vol I-III

This three volume set is an ethnographic guide to the tattoos of the Russian criminal and prison underworld, compiled by Danzig Baldaev, a medical attendant working in the prison camp system. Each book is absolutely full of photographs and sketches of tattoos, with short translations of the Russian text and descriptions of the meanings behind them. Tattoos are an important part of the culture of the vor v zakone (“legitimate thieves”), and are a hidden language passed largely by oral tradition. Similar to how a knowledgeable person can “read” a military member’s service from their uniform and medals, a knowledgable criminal can do the same from a set of tattoos. It’s also interesting to know that many of the tattoos depicted in the encyclopedia have a negative meaning, and are tattooed on unwilling recipients.

There was a point in my life where getting a basic handle on the meaning of these tattoos was part of my day-to-day work, but the more I read, the more I recognized the broader ethnographic value of this information. “Under-dog” culture, more often than not, does not get recorded. This encyclopedia set makes sure that this cultural information will not get erased.

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Butter: A Rich History

I am a sucker for the social history of almost anything. As I browse through my shelves, I see I have books on the social history of: salt, the telegraph, codfishing, the machine-gun, milk, opium, money, paper, stock futures, networks & hierarchies and yes, butter.

There are a lot of different ways to write history, and if done well, the author “connects the dots” between myriad different facts in a way that allows the reader to see things in a new light or gain a new insight. These kinds of social history take a look at the thread that runs through history of a particular things, and the ways that it either influenced or was influenced by events. I am a history buff to begin with, but finding new connections between points of data is something that I really enjoy.

Along the same lines is the fantastic book, “A History fo the World in Six Glasses” by Tom Standage (Deputy Editor at The Economist). Recognizing that the division of history into eras delineated by the predominant material of tools (Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, etc), he reorganized history into eras by the predominant beverage. Not only is it a lot of fun, it’ll change how you think about history.

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Tourist Guides for Iraq and Afghanistan

I’ve done a lot of travel, including to some very out-of-the-way places for work and for pleasure. Two travel books that you won’t often see on anyones shelves are tourist guides to Afghanistan and Iraq. I bought both books while working in those countries, and both were a revelation.

Afghanistan is synonymous with conflict after four decades of war, but in the 1960s and early 1970s, it was a very popular hippy travel destination. It was possible at that time to drive from anywhere in Europe along the old Silk Road to India or China, and much as it did a millennia ago, Afghanistan sits along that route. Nancy Hatch Dupree wrote a travel guide in 1970 that went through at least seven re-printings. I bought my copy in a dusty bookshop on “Chicken Street” in Kabul. Afghanistan is filled with sites of great cultural interest, and using her book, I was able to find many of them even with the war going on around me. It was incredibly sad to see just how fr removed the present day reality was from the past shown in the book, but at the same time, it gave me a different perspective on the country and its potential future.

Similarly, the Bradt travel guide to Iraq captures a snap shot of a country before it disintegrates into violence. Released just before the 2nd Iraq War, it’s poignant reminder of just how fragile modern civilization actually is. Iraq was literally filled with museums and historic sites of massive significance to world culture. While some of these remain, many were destroyed during the insurgency that began following the 2003 invasion, or more recently by ISIS.

I’ll give some more examples from my esoteric book collection in future posts. But now I’m wondering: what are the weirdest books on your shelves? I’d love to hear about them (and maybe where I can get a copy too!)

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Review: The Wandering Falcon

Hope does not die like an animal – quick and sudden. It is more like a plant, which slowly withers away.

-“The Wandering Falcon,” by Jamil Ahmad

There is no other book written in English that captures the spirit of the Pashtun people as well as “The Wandering Falcon” by Jamil Ahmad. Although I have written about Afghanistan based on my experiences there, I think it is incredibly important for Western readers to access works by Afghan and Pakistani writers. In previous posts, I’ve reviewed “Earth and Ashes” by Afghan writer Atiq Rahimi, the “Poetry of the Taliban,” and an autobiography by a founding member of the Taliban, Mullah Zaeef.

The author was a Pakistani civil servant who worked in the tribal areas, dominated by Pashtuns, for nearly forty years. He also worked at the ministerial level in the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul during the period of the Soviet occupation. During this time, he became fluent in Pashto, and clearly gained a deep insight (and affection for) Pashtun society that is reflected in his writing.

He wrote the first draft of this week in 1974, but then did nothing further with it for many years. In 2008, after he had retired from the civil service, he submitted an excerpt from Wandering Falcon to a short story contest, which he won. This encouraged him to revisit the entire work, which was published in 2011 when he was aged 78. “The Wandering Falcon” was short-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize, an incredible feat for a first work of fiction. Sadly, this is the only work of his that we have, as he passed away in 2014.

“The Wandering Falcon” is described both as a novel and a collection of short stories, and in truth it is both. The continuous thread through all of the episodes in the book is the presence of a central character, Tor Baz or Black Falcon. Although his life forms a part of the narrative structure of the book, the focus is less on individuals than it is on Pashtun society as a whole. This reflects the sensibilities of the people who populate his work, who also see the value of the collective as greater than that of the individual.

Ahmad’s work begins in Baluchistan (“the land of the Baluch people”, which straddles the modern border of Afghanistan and Pakistan), and is the story of two lovers – a married daughter of a tribal chief who elopes with a servant. Pashtunwali, or the “way of the Pashtun” is a traditional code that governs Pashtun society. Despite, or perhaps because of the very strict rules and expectations around romantic relationships within the Pashtunwali, there are many classic stories of lovers who persist against all odds that are popular in Afghanistan.

In Ahmad’s story, the two lovers take shelter in a government-run fortress, where they give birth to a son. Eventually their past catches up to them, and they are killed. Their son, raised initially by the soldiers of the fort, becomes the persistent character in the rest of the stories. Known as Tor Baz (“Black Falcon”), he is both constrained by Pashtun society as well as living outside of it.

The characters within his work defy the modern labels often used in the West to describe the inhabitants of Afghanistan and Pakistan – such as moderates and extremists, rebels and government supporters, pro-Western and anti-Western. Instead, the characters are shown with much a greater degree of insight and empathy, showing us that they are driven by human concerns of their own – dignity, love and survival – outside of geopolitics.

Ahmad also does an excellent job of highlighting the clash between tribal ways and the edicts of modern government, and how the Pashtun inhabitants of the tribal areas try to thread their way through this maze of requirements and expectations. Some of this tension is the age old conflict between the lives of nomadic versus settled peoples, while a connection can also be seen to the conflict of today, where a geopolitical struggle and modern weapons (such as drones) are at variance with an ancient, and profoundly local, way of life.

If you are interested in learning more about the lives of Pashtun people in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, the perfect place to start is with “The Wandering Falcon.”

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The Taliban Laheya

In 2006, the Swiss newspaper Die Weltwoche published a fascinating document that they had acquired in Afghanistan – a set of “rules” for the Taliban. Although it is a very loosely organized group, with many claiming membership who don’t necessarily report to the leadership council, this was an interesting development.

The Taliban still refer to themselves as the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” much as ISIS stands for the “Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham. From 1996 to 2001, they were in fact the de facto government of much of Afghanistan, a longer period than ISIS governed over parts of Iraq and Syria. The period between 2001 and 2006 saw the Taliban reorganize itself, both in Pakistan and in Afghanistan. The publication of the laheya marked their return to a more active organization that sought to portray (if not practice) centralized control.

The laheya itself is composed of thirty rules, which span a wide range of purposes. Some of the reasoning behind the creation of the layeha can be found in the autobiography of one of the founding members, Mullah Zaeef. In general, they can be broken down into six categories.

1. Organization

Nearly a third of the rules are about how each group of mujahideen should operate, and what decisions must be deferred to the leadership council or a district/provincial council. One of the things that the Taliban did between 2001-2006 was to establish a “shadow government,” down to the district level, across nearly all of Afghanistan. This allowed them to try to regain the mantle of being the legitimate (read Islamic) rulers of the country.

One of the more interesting rules in the laheya states that “If a Mujahid is faced with a problem that is not described in this book, his commander must find a solution in consultation with the group.” Afghan society, and particularly Pashtun tribal custom, places a great deal of emphasis on discussion and consensus building. This is reflected in many elements of the laheya.

2. Use of Islamic Courts

Along with the shadow government, the Taliban also established shadow courts. Even amongst Afghan citizens who were not hard-core supporters of the Taliban, these courts became popular as they were seen as much less corrupt than those run by the government. As even secular issues are governed by Islamic juris prudence, the “source documents” for law in the government and Taliban courts are the same, increasing their appeal. The laheya reinforces this by demanding that certain kinds of disputes be brought before the courts, rather than being solved by the mujahideen themselves (potentially with violence).

3. Division of Society

Although portions of Afghan society clearly do support either the government or groups such as the Taliban, the majority of the population support neither, or both depending on the circumstance. This great group of “undecided” are the targets for persuasion by all sides in the conflict, and should any group gain majority support, they will likely prevail.

The laheya decrees how certain members of the population are to be treated, in part to decrease the possibility of not supporting either force. Professions such as being a teacher or working for an NGO are defined as supporting the government, opening up these individuals to attacks and reprisals. These rules are part of the Taliban’s overall information operations, and desire to more clearly divide society into supporters and non-supporters.

4. Anti-Corruption

One of the greatest drivers of the insurgency in Afghanistan is a backlash against the rampant corruption amongst government officials at all levels. Much as the Taliban courts are seen as preferable as they are less corrupt, a sub-set of the rules in the laheya aim at ensuring the mujahideen forces are also seen as less corrupt than government security forces. Although many different stories exist about the origin of the Taliban, the most likely involve former mujahideen taking up arms to defeat bandits and corrupt officials in their district. Some of these events are portrayed in my novel, “This Shall Be a House of Peace.“

5. Morality

Much like the desire to portray the Taliban as being incorruptible, they also seek to portray themselves as a highly moral organization. Many of the petty or bizarre rules that the Taliban imposed when in government are rooted in their own narrow view of Islamic morality. One of the key rules within the laheya is a ban on smoking – which was also outlawed from 1996-2001.

6. Tactics

Only one of the thirty rules within the Laheya concerns itself with tactics, and it is very simple: “Every Mujahid must post a watch, day and night.” Taliban training is generally rudimentary, relying instead on experience (stretching back to the war against the Soviets) and moral righteousness to prevail.

The entire laheya is show below.

Layeha (book of rules) for the Mujahideen

From the highest leader of the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan.

Every Mujahid must abide by the following rules:

1) A Taliban commander is permitted to extend an invitation to all Afghans who support infidels so that they may convert to the true Islam.

2) We guarantee to any man who turns his back on infidels, personal security and the security of his possessions. But if he becomes involved in a dispute, or someone accuses him of something, he must submit to our judiciary.

3) Mujahideen who protect new Taliban recruits must inform their commander. 

4) A convert to the Taliban, who does not behave loyally and becomes a traitor, forfeits our protection. He will be given no second chance.

5) A Mujahid who kills a new Taliban recruit forfeits our protection and will be punished according to Islamic law.

6) If a Taliban fighter wants to move to another district, he is permitted to do so, but he must first acquire the permission of his group leader.

7) A Mujahid who takes a foreign infidel as prisoner with the consent of a group leader may not exchange him for other prisoners or money.

8) A provincial, district or regional commander may not sign a contract to work for a non-governmental organization or accept money from an NGO. The Shura (the highest Taliban council) alone may determine all dealings with NGOs.

9) Taliban may not use Jihad equipment or property for personal ends.

10) Every Talib is accountable to his superiors in matters of money spending and equipment usage.

11) Mujadideen may not sell equipment, unless the provincial commander permits him to do so.

12) A group of Mujahideen may not take in Mujahideen from another group to increase their own power. This is only allowed when there are good reasons for it, such as a lack of fighters in one particular group. Then written permission must be given and the weapons of the new members must stay with their old group.

13) Weapons and equipment taken from infidels or their allies must be fairly distributed among the Mujahideen.

14) If someone who works with infidels wants to cooperate with Mujahideen, he should not be killed. If he is killed, his murderer must stand before an Islamic court. 

15) A Mujahid or leader who torments an innocent person must be warned by his superiors. If he does not change his behaviour he must be thrown out of the Taliban movement.

16) It is strictly forbidden to search houses or confiscate weapons without the permission of a district or provincial commander.

17) Mujahideen have no right to confiscate money or personal possessions of civilians.

18) Mujahideen should refrain from smoking cigarettes.

19) Mujahideen are not allowed to take young boys with no facial hair onto the battlefield or into their private quarters.

20) If members of the opposition or the civil government wish to be loyal to the Taliban, we may take their conditions into consideration. A final decision must be made by the military council. 

21) Anyone with a bad reputation or who has killed civilians during the Jihad may not be accepted into the Taliban movement. If the highest leader has personally forgiven him, he will remain at home in the future.

22) If a Mujahid is found guilty of a crime and his commander has barred him from the group, no other group may take him in. If he wishes to resume contact with the Taliban, he must ask forgiveness from his former group.

23) If a Mujahid is faced with a problem that is not described in this book, his commander must find a solution in consultation with the group.

24) It is forbidden to work as a teacher under the current puppet regime, because this strengthens the system of the infidels. True Muslims should apply to study with a religiously trained teacher and study in a Mosque or similar institution. Textbooks must come from the period of the Jihad or from the Taliban regime.

25) Anyone who works as a teacher for the current puppet regime must recieve a warning. If he nevertheless refuses to give up his job, he must be beaten. If the teacher still continues to instruct contrary to the principles of Islam, the district commander or a group leader must kill him.

26) Those NGOs that come to the country under the rule of the infidels must be treated as the government is treated. They have come under the guise of helping people but in fact are part of the regime. Thus we tolerate none of their activities, whether it be building of streets, bridges, clinics, schools, madrases (schools for Koran study) or other works. If a school fails to heed a warning to close, it must be burned. But all religious books must be secured beforehand.

27) As long as a person has not been convicted of espionage and punished for it, no one may take up the issue on their own. Only the district commander is in charge. Witnesses who testify in a procedure must be in good psychological condition, possess an untarnished religious reputation, and not have committed any major crime. The punishment may take place only after the conclusion of the trial.

28) No lower-level commander may interfere with contention among the populace. If an argument cannot be resolved, the district or regional commander must step in to handle the matter. The case should be discussed by religious experts (Ulema) or a council of elders (Jirga). If they find no solution, the case must be referred to well-known religious authorities.

29) Every Mujahid must post a watch, day and night.

30) The above 29 rules are obligatory. Anyone who offends this code must be judged according to the laws of the Islamic Emirates.


This Book of Rules is intended for the Mujahideen who dedicate their lives to Islam and the almighty Allah. This is a complete guidebook for the progress of Jihad, and every Mujahid must keep these rules; it is the duty of every Jihadist and true believer.

Signed by the highest leader of the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan

from Die Weltwoche, 2006.

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The Concept of Tsundoku

Have you ever been excited about a new book you’ve bought, only to bring it home and place it on an ever-growing stack of unread books? If so, you might be an unknowing practitioner of tsundoku.

I’ve already written about the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi in an earlier post. Tsundoku is another Japanese concept that we badly need in the English language. It is a pun that became part of Japanese slang at the very beginning of the Meiji era, a period when the country was rapidly modernizing and Westernizing. The word is formed from two others – Tsumu, which means to pile something up, and doku, which means to read. When mashed together to become more easily pronounceable, they became tsundoku: a pile of unread books.

Originally the word was used satirically, to poke fun at professors who had large collections of books that they never read. The word no longer has any bite to it in modern usage, and simply refers to the fact of having piles of unread books.

This could be a small stack beside your bed that you reach for just before going to sleep, or overflowing shelves that threaten the structural integrity of your house. It could also be a section of your bookshelves where books, purchased with good intentions, languish untouched. The physical manifestations of tsundoku are as varied as the readers (or non-readers) themselves. In this age there is also perhaps room for the idea ofe-tsundoku, where vast numbers of e-books sit unread on readers and in archives. By this standard, Kindle Unlimited may be the greatest expression of tsundoku ever created, for good or for ill.

You might think that English already has a word for tsundoku in bibliomania. Literally “book madness,” I would suggest that there is a key difference between the two terms. A bibliomaniac collects books deliberately to form a collection. A practitioner of tsundoku does so unintentionally, accidently, all while collecting books that they intend to read. A bibliomaniac may collect books, even many copies of the same book, with no intention of ever reading them. Tsundoku, by contrast, begins with a different intent, even if it remains unfulfilled.

Full disclosure: I have a modest collection of about 1500 books, many if not most of which I have read. I take great pleasure in reading, but also in being able to pull a book off my shelf when researching something, or when I want to recommend a copy of something to a friend. As I sit writing this, I am very comfortably ensconced between shelves of books, some of which I’ve read, some I’ve partially read, and some I’ve yet to read. This collection of books exude comfort for me as a writer, especially when they are close at hand should I want a reference, inspiration, or even just a break.

I think that people commonly over-estimate the value of what we know, and under-estimate the value of what we don’t. This leads us to inflate our own ego, and to feel that our strength comes from our knowledge. A library of only books that have been read is a static thing, a trophy to what we know, even if it grows at the pace of our reading. 

A stack of unread books, on the other hand, represents all that we don’t know, and is a reminder that our strength is not in what we were or are, but in what we can learn and become. A library of unread books is a means of self-improvement, discovery and growth. My tsundoku habit represents near limitless potential.

A person’s book collection can often be a symbolic representation of their mind, with their ego and sense of self wrapped up in it. A person who has quit expanding their library may have reached the point where they think they know everything they need to know. Their ignorance of the breadth of their ignorance gives them confidence.

A stack of unread books is perhaps a testament to this ignorance – but also to the fact that there are unknown worlds yet to discover, and that the means to do so are close at hand.

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