Yvonne Ridley writing ...

... "In The Hands Of The Talibans"

"Hamid says everyone is very bothered that I'm not eating and asks if there's something wrong with the food, if I have a special diet or would prefer hotel food. They constantly refer to me as their guest and say they are sad if I am sad. I can't believe it. the Taliban are trying to kill me with their kindness" (p.127)

(upon her liberation) :

"They followed us for the next few miles and shouted to passers-by pointing my vehicle. These people are amazing. No grudges, no signs of hostility, yet, only hours earlier, Britain and America had bombed the hell out of them." (p.171)

(to fellow journalist critizing her captivity account) :

" I know Afghan women are treated horrendously by the Taliban and I hardly think the Northen Alliance, whose human rights record is just as appalling, will treat women any better. But I cannot be held responsible for the way the entire female population of Afghanistan is being treated" (p.210)

     This is one of the best I read if its kind (account of a journalist in a war zone). It raises several questions and remarks that would take pages, so I'll try to be quick : autobiography by a journalist held hostage by the Talibans just before and during the first day of the american invasion of Afghanistan.  The writing is good in a journalistic way, she manages to render what's going on inside her head as well as around her, what she tells of her previous life before the events taking place in the book is amazing, I wonder how you can manage to have so many lives wrapped into one. 

     The book radiates the author's strong personnality, you wonder at times if she's not out of her mind instead of plain courageous or stupidly brave, but she has the merit to try to be objective about what she witnesses, even if it's not what she expected. She really represents for me what is a true journalist, this willingness to discover things and report them in any condition, and almost at whatever cost for herself. For those who wants to know what happens "behind the curtains" this book is great. the world of journalism and politics and wars, and how anyone can be manipulated is frightening (the last chapter is maybe the most frightening of the book, even more than her actual detention in Afghanistan). 

     I'm really surprised this book is of print - I bought the last copy I found on Amazon (which had been around for 2 years but I waited to get a decent price), and not re-printed. Maybe as she says "It's very difficult because we know they're [the Talibans] brutal and yet they treated me with kindness and respect. People won't like it but I have to tell the truth". When events don't go with what we expect, it's silently buried by other opinions more "acceptable" ... In this book (contrary to what you might think if you read only her wikipedia profile) she's not more pro-"taliban" than pro-"western", she does her job of critizing any side of the game she gets to meet, and I guess that's why no-one bothers re-printing her book, when a "east-west conflict" story sells much better. Another journalist too independent. 

Maybe she ended up disgusted of what she was confronted to during the years after her return to the UK, because it seems know she works for a iranian TV channel, and according to her wikipedia article became a fierce critic of the "west". When you read the book you understand her subsequent turns of life (conversion to islam, etc), especially in the final chapters, when she's released.