The Sewing Circles of Herat.

I've just finished reading this fascinating account of life in Afghanistan, both before and after
the rise of the Taliban.

Christina Lamb had visited Afghanistan and spent time actually behind the lines with the mujahideen
during their guerilla war with the Russians - the same men who would later become the nucleus of
the Taliban. After 9/11 and the subsequent American invasion, she returned to the country to see
for herself the changes.

The sewing circles of the title refer to a group of women in the city of Herat who did their best
to continue their interrupted education after the rise of the Taliban. They gathered in the house
of a professor from Herat University, under the guise of forming a sewing circle - sewing groups
being the only form of group activity permitted by the Taliban. They hid books under their sewing
materials, and the professor gave lessons in literature and poetry to his little group, while his
children kept watch outside as they played in case the Taliban should stage a raid, as they often
did. All were risking their lives by this activity, and it's so hard to imagine what it must have
been like for them - I don't know that I'd be so brave; but their lives were so empty and dull,
kept indoors and allowed no outside contact, to them it was obviously worth it.

The book is about much more than just the women of Herat - Christina Lamb has a good knowledge of
Afghan history and culture, and while it's so complex it's difficult to say I truly understand it,
it's not hard to grasp that the US - like so many other invaders before them - has no idea of
what it's doing, and is doomed to fail. Her literary style isn't great - she's a journalist, and
she writes sparingly, like a journalist doing an article with limited column inches for each
topic, but she paints very vivid and clear pictures of the people she meets.

So much of what she writes can be applied by extension to Iraq, particularly the fact that for these
people, the tribes - the culture and the tribal loyalties - are paramount, and it seems that trying
to unite any of these countries under one government is an awesome task, and probably incapable of
being realised.

I highly recommend this book to anyone trying to grapple with the task of understanding the politics
and societies of these ME countries.