I turned regularly to four books for inspiration while writing this one: Jason Elliot’s An Unexpected Light is not only one of the most beautifully-written books I’ve ever read, it also offers an essential portrait of the Afghanistan we never hear about. Jon Lee Anderson’s The Lion’s Grave is such a pleasure to read that it’s easy to forget how informative it is. David Finkel’s The Good Soldiers and Evan Wright’s Generation Kill are set in Iraq but are both brilliant chronicles of modern warfare. When I was in need of a boost, a small amount of time with one of these books got me straight back in front of my laptop. George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia had the same effect.

For a meticulous account of recent western intervention in Afghanistan before 9/11, Steve Coll’s Ghost Wars is essential reading, as are Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower (a history of Al-Qaeda) and Peter Hopkirk’s The Great Game (Britain and Russia in Afghanistan from the nineteenth century). These three heavyweights are such masterpieces that I doubt they will ever be surpassed. For comprehensive accounts of the Taliban, I recommend Ahmed Rashid’s Taliban, Antonio Giustozzi’s Koran, Kalashnikov and Laptop and Decoding the New Taliban (as editor), and Abdul Salam Zaeef’s My Life with the Taliban. Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn’s An Enemy We Created and Giles Dorronsoro’s Revolution Unending are also essential. We have no excuse not to have known better. For forensic insider accounts of western policy since 9/11, I commend Ahmed Rashid’s Descent into Chaos, Sherard Cowper-Coles’s Cables from Kabul and Bob Woodward’s Obama’s Wars. To understand how counter-insurgency is supposed to work, I recommend David Kilcullen’s An Accidental Guerilla. Finally, Kate Brooks’s In the Light of Darkness: A Photographer’s Journey after 9/11, contains pictures that say more than all these words combined.

For the ultimate reading list go to http://www.foreignpolicy.com­/­articles­/­2009­/­09­/­08­/­the­_­ultimate­_­afghan­_­reading­_­list­,­ where you can also subscribe to the excellent AfPak Daily Brief.