Afghan reading list

This is a selection of books I'm taking to Afghanistan, apart from the excellent The Afghan Connection by George Pottinger (which I will read again and again), I haven't read any of them.

First (from top to bottom) is Afghanistan by Lonely Planet. This slim little edition printed in 2007 proves once and for all that parts of Afghanistan are reasonably safe: if the good people over at LP publish a traveller's guide about it, it must be. Best bits are pieces about shopping, eating, and yes - drinking - in Kabul itself.

George Pottinger is a direct descendant of Major Eldred Pottinger, the  legendary "Hero of Herat". Eldred Pottinger was a young Ulsterman who joined the Bombay Artillery as a subaltern, travelled disguised as an Afghan tribesman to Herat where, almost singlehandedly, he organised the city defences and fought off a huge Russian-backed Persian army in a brutal siege that lasted one whole year. Pottinger also was one of the hostages held in Kabul during the catastrophic Retreat from Kabul, during the First Anglo-Afghan War in 1842. This book is an understated little gem and a must for anyone remotely interested in Afghanistan, it is also decorated with fine period sketches and maps, giving you a real feel of those tempestuous and ultimately, for the British anyway, traumatic times.

Third on the list is Dust of the Saints by Radek Sikorski. Sikorski travels to Herat in 1987, where severe fighting between the Red Army and the Mujahideen fighters had virtually levelled the ancient city. This should be a great companion piece to Pottinger's book, and will I'm sure give further proof that in Afghanistan history has a horrible way of repeating itself.

Cabool by Sir Alexander 'Bokhara' Burnes, is a snapshot of Kabul under British rule just before they were annihilated in 1842. Scotsman "Sekundar" Burnes was, by all accounts, a philanderer and rogue and paid the ultimate price in the 1842 uprising when he was caught trying to hide in the Afghan mob disguised; he was then beaten and beheaded, his head stuck on a pike and paraded in front of the terrified British garrison. Should be a good read.

Afghanistan: A Companion and Guide is a huge guidebook, it's so large and heavy you'd need another backpack to carry it around Kabul. It is packed full of information though on the history and culture of Afghanistan, and it was first published in 2005 although the book's artwork looks as though it dates from the 1980's. I may leave it at home and attempt to bring it out on my second trip out - I would have to book an extra seat for the bloody thing too - honestly, it's that big and unwieldly.

Last in the pile is John Parker's The Gurkhas. Not strictly about Afghanistan per se, but these tough little Nepali soldiers have been in and out of Afghanistan many times during the United Kingdom's great expeditional follies there down through the years, so they are well suited to the rugged altitudes of the Afghan deserts.

So, if I have a lot of time on my hands I have plenty to read during the long nights in Kabul, any suggestions for reading material on any subject would be appreciated. Thanks.