This is a short list of literature I have read, fiction and non fiction, about Afghanistan and embedding in the run up to the journey, in the order I read them:

1. Khaled Hosseini (2004). The Kite Runner. Riverhead Trade
   
2. Asne Seierstad (2004) The Bookseller of Kabul. Back Bay Books
   
3. Sebastian Junger (2010). War. Twelve
   
4. Ahmed Rashid (2010). Taliban: The Power of Militant Islam in Afghanistan and Beyond. Yale University Press
   
5. Ahmed Rashid, Sturz ins Chaos: Afghanistan, Pakistan und die Rückkehr der Taliban. Leske Verlag
   
6. Marc Thörner (2010). Afghanistan-Code: Reportagen über Krieg, Fundamentalismus und Demokratie. Edition Nautilus
   
7. Martin Ewans (2002). Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics. Harper Perennial
   
8. Bernhard Chiari (Hrsg.) (2009). Wegweiser zur Geschichte: Afghanistan. Im Auftrag des Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamtes
9. Nick Allen (2011). Embed: With the Worlds Armys in Afghanistan. The History Press