Taleban or Taliban means "the Seekers". Not to be confused with the The Seekers group, whom I always rather liked.

I haven't myself read The Taliban - Ascent to Power by M. J. Gohari published in August by the Oxford Universitry Press. I assume that Murray MacLeod must have read rather more of its 172 pages than were included in that brief extract in order to feel entitled to write it off as "vapid ramblings."

However I see that the website of the US Embassy in Pakistan says of this book "This is an informative account of Afghanistan under Taliban rule." But then what would they know about it?