Mullah Omar

        Mullah Omar and the Unknown Taliban by Bette Dam, a Dutch journalist, is a very well-researched book. The author has traveled far and wide in Afghanistan to carry out research about the life of Mullah Omar, about whom very little is known. After the downfall of Taliban, post 9/11, Mullah Omar vanished into thin air. 

    Bette Dam is a famous journalist from the Netherlands. She first came to Afghanistan as an embedded journalist from her country. She carried out her assignment while being with the troops from Holland when the Mohammad Karzai Government was installed in Afghanistan. The Taliban were on the run and being hounded by allied troops. 

        She became interested in the Taliban and later on, came to Afghanistan on her own, carried out her task independently with the help of people from Afghanistan. During her first visit to Afghanistan, she stayed with the troops of her country and heard them taking on the Taliban, but, she was not allowed to go out and carry out independent investgation about the situation.  She got fed up and she wanted to get a clear picture, which was not possible while being with the troops from her country. Thereafter she again came back to Afghanistan and  stayed in civil area.  By the time Taliban were gone. She was interested in the top Taliban, Mulla Omar and very little was known about him.  She carried out research about Mulla Omar and started her journey from the village of Mulla Omar, where he was born. Mulla Omar was a normal child. He took to learning the Quran and acquired the title of Mulla. He got bloodied in a fight with Russian troops in Afghanistan and lost his eye when hit with shrapnel during a bombardment on his village mosque. Later, he became a fierce fighter and got the nickname of 'Rockety' because of was good at firing rockets. Post withdrawal of Russia, he got the upper hand when he freed his area from Afghan Warlords who had put up posts to collect taxes from the general public in the area around Kandahar. 

    Later, he became the head of the Taliban but continued to head the country from Kandahar. It appears that he was not in full control. He was wary of Pakistan and also an uninvited guest, Osama Bin Laden. Post 9/11, and after his defeat, he went into hiding. He spent his last years in a place close to an American Base in anonymity and mostly hiding for 12 long years. He was buried in an unmarked grave. 

    It is a very interesting book and gives a rare insight into the lesser-known life of Mullah Omar.