It is an honest and important political project, albeit not a literary one. Read it, for these voices have never been heard before

THE POETRY of Taliban, which is a collection of poems, picked up and translated from the Taliban website is an intriguing book. One never thought that one could juxtapose the two words poetry and Taliban. So when I heard about this book, my first instinct was "I want to read it." But, when I actually got down to reading the book, I was disappointed. It is not the kind of poetry that would make you think; it is not powerful enough. In fact, for me, it is not a book of poetry at all. Having said that, it is unfair to judge a poem based on its translations. Like most translations, this book too lacks beauty and depth. Therefore, it won't be wrong to put the blame on the translators Mirwais Rahmany and Hamid Stanikzai. And to a great extent, on the editors Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn. Had they paid more heed to the poems and looked at them as important pieces of Afghan literature, things would have been different. The question that arises here is: how do you look at a book such as this one? For starters, put that literary critic in you to sleep; he is not needed here. Then with an unbiased mind read each poem as you might be reading a personal diary. One needs to write a diary with honesty; it should be straight from the heart. Poetry of Taliban is nothing if not honest and heartfelt. Despite its failings, what makes it an important book, is the fact that it puts a human face to Taliban. It brings to light the agony, frustration and tragedy of life in Afghanistan. When one thinks of Taliban the words that come to mind are war, terrorism, death but not poetry, not compassion, not peace, and not freedom. And this is what this book does. It makes you empathise with the Afghans. There are satirical poems where they criticize Karzai and accuse him of selling their country for a few dollars, then there are poems which reflect their resentment towards their own countrymen earning in dollars. There are poems which show their obsession with religion and God. And the sense of self-pity comes out all too often. Malalai of Maiwand, a national folk hero of Afghanistan who rallied the Pashtun army against the British troops at the 1880 Battle of Maiwand, often finds mention in the poems; it is, therefore, ironic that there is just one woman poet in whole collection. Faisal Devji in his foreword writes: "… recent history of Afghan struggles against Soviet or American invasion has produced no more heroines of this kind (Referring to Malalai); though the bravery and fortitude of unnamed women who typify the county's indomitable spirit continues being praised in the Taliban's poetry." While this does hold true for the book, it somehow comes across as an attempt of projecting a modern image of Taliban. Nothing wrong in doing that, however it becomes increasingly difficult to put your trust Faisal's foreword when you think that just a few months back a 15 year old Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen for being "the symbol of the infidels and obscenity". Literary luminaries like Mohammed Hanif and William Dalrymple who have been generous in lavishing praise over the book partly share the blame for the failure of this book as well. "This extraordinary collection is remarkable as a literary project — uncovering a seam of war poetry few will know ever existed and presenting to us for the time the black turbaned Wilfred Owens of Wardak," writes Dalrymple, in his testimony for the book. After reading the collection, one can only agree to disagree with Dalrymple. Afghan literature, I hope with all my heart is more than this collection of 235 poems. This is no way a remarkable literary project; at best it serves as a footnote in the history of Afghan literature. However, it also holds true that is the first and the only sample of Afghan literature available to the rest of the world. This is why, it deserves a read. So that better editors and better translators can do justice to real poetry of Taliban. This is not a collection of poetry; this is Taliban's plea to be understood, to be seen as human. Read it not for the verse, but to get a however lopsided view of the other side of Taliban, because honestly, before this anthropology got published, you didn't know that this view existed.