Days of Fear: A Firsthand Account of Captivity Under the New Taliban [Paperback]

Daniele Mastrogiacomo (Author), Michael Reynolds (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 23, 2010

On March 5, 2007, Daniele Mastrogiacomo, his driver and his interpreter were captured by the Taliban. His captors threatened to execute him if Italy did not immediately withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. When Italy refused this demand, the driver, twenty-five-year old Sayed Agha, was decapitated before Mastrogiacomo's eyes. A video of this horrifying event was shown around the world, and Mastrogiacomo spent the rest of his time in captivity convinced that a similar fate would soon befall him.

His jail, however, was not a dark room hidden away in some urban periphery, but a kind of open-air prison: to escape detection, his captors dragged him from village to village, through opium plantations, along dusty roads and over rugged mountains, from one end of Afghanistan to the other.

It was a captivity that consisted in a continuous and nerve-racking confrontation with a world that bore no resemblance to that which he had ever known. Mastrogiacomo draws from his experience not only a hostage's tale of captivity but also a story that lies at the heart of the eternal human drama: that of a man's encounter with The Other.

As brilliantly crafted as a first-rate suspense novel and with the kind of emotional impact associated with the best literary fiction, Mastrogiacomo's story of courage and tenacity in the face of imminent danger is unforgettable.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

One of several foreign journalists abducted (or murdered) by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the author, who works for Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper, endured captivity for two weeks in March 2007. Believing he had arranged an interview with a top Taliban commander, Mastrogiacomo, his translator, and his driver were instead tricked: they were kidnapped and tortured, and the author’s companions were killed. Mastrogiacomo, by writing about this terrible experience in the present tense, flows through the states of mind it provoked: indignation at the Taliban’s deception, dread for whatever the militants intended, and, at times, a prayerful recourse to God. In addition to his own moods and fears, Mastrogiacomo memorializes those of Ajmal, the translator, and of Sayed, the driver. As the Taliban trucks the fettered group from lair to lair, Mastrogiacomo chronicles incidents––such as the sinister appearances of a jihadi cameraman––by which he perceives the approach or retreat of death. With its permeating apprehension, depictions of the Taliban’s mentality, and an author book tour slated for April 2010, this is sure to attract a significant readership. --Gilbert Taylor

About the Author

Daniele Mastrogiacomo has covered national and international affairs for the Italian daily La Repubblica since 1980. He has worked as a foreign correspondent in some of the world's most hostile places: Kabul, Teheran, Palestine, Baghdad, and Mogadishu. In 2006 he reported on the war in Lebanon between Israel and the Hezbollah. He lives in Rome, Italy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Europa Editions (February 23, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933372974
• ISBN-13: 978-1933372976
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,204,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brave Reporter Survives the Taliban, February 26, 2010

By 

Mike Robinson "Mike A Robinson: Apologetic An... (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Days of Fear: A Firsthand Account of Captivity Under the New Taliban (Paperback)

Daniele Mastrogiacomo (b. 1954, Karachi, Pakistan) is a courageous Italian correspondent for the "La Repubblica" newspaper in Italy. He has been an active reporter in the Middle East and in 2007 was kidnapped by Mullah Dadullah's henchmen inasmuch as the brutal Taliban thought that Mastrogiacomo worked for the British military. Once the Taliban found out that he was a reporter for an European newspaper, to release him they stipulated that Italy withdraw their military force in Afghanistan. As the Italian government stood firm, the Taliban made a recording of Mastrogiacomo, his driver and another colleague, kneeling and blindfolded before armed Taliban terrorists. The video also had a recording of one of his colleagues being beheaded by sawing off his head with a sword by Muslim combatants. This resulted in Mastrogiacomo pleading to help him....

I will not provide the ending and ruin the captivating, yet disconcerting story, but I recommend this book as a moving and revealing work on the mindset and culture of the Taliban.

Readable, interesting, powerful, fascinating, and unforgettable. Great book for a long flight or vacation read.
There Are Moral Absolutes: How to Be Absolutely Sure That Christianity Alone Supplies

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chilling, February 27, 2010

By 

Robert C. Ross (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Days of Fear: A Firsthand Account of Captivity Under the New Taliban (Paperback)

"In the name of Allah Most High and All-Merciful, Sayed Agha, Ajmal Naqshbandi and Daniele Mastrogiacomo are sentenced to death for acts of espionage within Taliban territories."

In 2007, Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, his interpreter Ajmal Naqshbandi and his driver Sayed Agha hope to interview a Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah. Instead, they are take prisoner by the Taliban, Agha is killed, and Mastrogiacomo is held for two weeks. (Ajmal Naqshbandi was later killed as well.)

This book is an exceptional description of the psychological terror Mastrogiacomoa feels -- except for his chains and two blows from a rifle butt he was not physically mistreated -- his certainty that he will be killed, and then "Then, suddenly, I feel that they won't kill me. I'm certain of it. I don't know why. My instincts tell me so. I want to believe it. Maybe my death is too absurd an eventuality for me to imagine, or perhaps I'm too important for our captors. I know that they won't do it. Not yet, not now."

Between his capture and his release, Mastrogiacomoa learns a great deal about himself and very little about the Taliban from his young guards. He is able to describe the execution of his driver on a river bank; his account is written in a flat, descriptive manner. The terror described in this book comes from Mastrogiacomoa himself, and he makes that terror come alive for the reader in an extraordinary manner.

Mullah Dadullah eventually tells Mastrogiacomo: "In the end, you have obtained much more than an interview. You have seen how we live and how we think. Do you think yourself capable of telling the truth about us? You journalists never do. You owe your life to our Supreme Commander. It was Mullah Mohammed Omar himself who suspended your death sentence. He decided not to have your head cut off."

This book describes a terrifying ordeal and Mastrogiacomo's human reactions to his captivity.


Robert C. Ross 2010

Note: Francis X. Rocca has published a superb review of this book in "The Wall Street Journal" which is free online at the link set forth in the first Comment. B.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read om How the Taliban Operate, March 27, 2011

By 

Joyce (SF Bay Area, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Days of Fear: A Firsthand Account of Captivity Under the New Taliban (Paperback)

Daniele Mastrogiacomo gave a chilling account of the brutality that he experienced first hand as a Taliban captive in Afghanistan. During his captivity, he also got an up close look at how the Taliban operates and manages to maintain its strong hold in a politically chaotic Afghanistan. He wrote the story in honor of his Afghan friends who did not survive the ordeal. It's rare to find books nowadays that are written in the true spirit of sharing an experience without that heavy commercial taint. Thanks to the translator, Michael Reynolds, for making the story available to millions of people who understand English.