Days of Fear: A Firsthand Account of Captivity Under the New Taliban

The book describes the harrowing experiences of an Italian journalist under the Taliban. While the book does include several grisly and heartbreaking moments, it also provides invaluable insight on the Taliban and its leaders. Highly recommended!

"In the name of Allah Most High and All-Merciful, Sayed Agha, Ajmal Naqshbandi and Daniele Mastrogiacomo are sentenced to death for acts of espionage within Taliban territories." In 2007, Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, his interpreter Ajmal Naqshbandi and his driver Sayed Agha hope to interview a Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah. Instead, they are take prisoner by the Taliban, Agha is killed, and Mastrogiacomo is held for two weeks. (Ajmal Naqshbandi was later killed as well.) This book is an exceptional description of the psychological terror Mastrogiacomoa feels -- except for his chains and two blows from a rifle butt he was not physically mistreated -- his certainty that he will be killed, and then "Then, suddenly, I feel that they won't kill me. I'm certain of it. I don't know why. My instincts tell me so. I want to believe it. Maybe my death is too absurd an eventuality for me to imagine, or perhaps I'm too important for our captors. I know that they won't do it. Not yet, not now." Between his capture and his release, Mastrogiacomoa learns a great deal about himself and very little about the Taliban from his young guards. He is able to describe the execution of his driver on a river bank; his account is written in a flat, descriptive manner. The terror described in this book comes from Mastrogiacomoa himself, and he makes that terror come alive for the reader in an extraordinary manner. Mullah Dadullah eventually tells Mastrogiacomo: "In the end, you have obtained much more than an interview. You have seen how we live and how we think. Do you think yourself capable of telling the truth about us? You journalists never do. You owe your life to our Supreme Commander. It was Mullah Mohammed Omar himself who suspended your death sentence. He decided not to have your head cut off." This book describes a terrifying ordeal and Mastrogiacomo's human reactions to his captivity. Robert C. Ross 2010 Note: Francis X. Rocca has published a superb review of this book in "The Wall Street Journal" which is free online at the link set forth in the first Comment. B.

Daniele Mastrogiacomo (b. 1954, Karachi, Pakistan) is a courageous Italian correspondent for the "La Repubblica" newspaper in Italy. He has been an active reporter in the Middle East and in 2007 was kidnapped by Mullah Dadullah's henchmen inasmuch as the brutal Taliban thought that Mastrogiacomo worked for the British military. Once the Taliban found out that he was a reporter for an European newspaper, to release him they stipulated that Italy withdraw their military force in Afghanistan. As the Italian government stood firm, the Taliban made a recording of Mastrogiacomo, his driver and another colleague, kneeling and blindfolded before armed Taliban terrorists. The video also had a recording of one of his colleagues being beheaded by sawing off his head with a sword by Muslim combatants. This resulted in Mastrogiacomo pleading to help him.... I will not provide the ending and ruin the captivating, yet disconcerting story, but I recommend this book as a moving and revealing work on the mindset and culture of the Taliban. Readable, interesting, powerful, fascinating, and unforgettable. Great book for a long flight or vacation read. There Are Moral Absolutes: How to Be Absolutely Sure That Christianity Alone Supplies