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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
A great book about a terrible subject. Insightful explanation of what drove the Taliban, in its early years at least, and where it came from. Also loads of info on the part that international politics played in shaping the conditions that gave rise and opportunity to the Taliban. It's quite a complicated web. I'd like to read more by this author.
This is one the most difficult review I've ever tried to write, not because the book itself is vague or inaccessible–on the contrary, its writing is clean, precise and all too understandable. It's just that the subject matter rips across raw nerves. Nevertheless, I wish to draw attention to the book as timely, informative and an evenhanded treatment of the Taliban and the new “great game” of oil and politics in Central Asia.
The text is divided into three main parts, the first dealing with the origins and rise of the Taliban, the next a study of the Taliban's “new-style fundamentalism” compared to more traditional Islam, and the last emphasizing the roles foreign powers–the USSR, Pakistan and the US, later the Central Asian Republics and Iran–have played in increasing the levels of violence and deepening the sectarian and ethnic divisions among Afghans.
The book opens with a harrowing account of a public execution at a soccer stadium in Kandahar, a city in the south of the country and long considered a Taliban stronghold (presumably one reason it received so much punishment during the 2001US-led bombing). It is but one example of Taliban brutality, which Rashid chronicles in plain language, but never unfeelingly. Through Rashid's eyes, the reader sees the glint of sunlight off the condemned man's chains, sees his knees tremble. There is plenty of brutality to chronicle and it comes from all quarters.
Please read the rest of the review here.
The text is divided into three main parts, the first dealing with the origins and rise of the Taliban, the next a study of the Taliban's “new-style fundamentalism” compared to more traditional Islam, and the last emphasizing the roles foreign powers–the USSR, Pakistan and the US, later the Central Asian Republics and Iran–have played in increasing the levels of violence and deepening the sectarian and ethnic divisions among Afghans.
The book opens with a harrowing account of a public execution at a soccer stadium in Kandahar, a city in the south of the country and long considered a Taliban stronghold (presumably one reason it received so much punishment during the 2001US-led bombing). It is but one example of Taliban brutality, which Rashid chronicles in plain language, but never unfeelingly. Through Rashid's eyes, the reader sees the glint of sunlight off the condemned man's chains, sees his knees tremble. There is plenty of brutality to chronicle and it comes from all quarters.
Please read the rest of the review here.
“Those who intervene in Afghanistan can face disintegration themselves — not because of the power of the Afghans, but because of the forces that are unleashed in their own fragile societies”
What a timely quote written 25 years ago. I would love an added chapter or two to this that went from 9/11 to the present.
What a timely quote written 25 years ago. I would love an added chapter or two to this that went from 9/11 to the present.
informative
medium-paced
Very thorough introduction to the Taliban, although somewhat dry in many places. Contains two chapters on oil prospecting in Afghanistan that seemed very long and could have easily been cut down to one chapter.
slow-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
This was a very interesting perspective on the Taliban because it was written and published around 2000-early 2001, giving a survey of Central Asian geopolitics that probably hasn't been analyzed in quite the same way since September 11. This book has left me wanting to read more on the history of Pakistan and the ISI, because it introduces so many niche issues, such as the Pakistani trucking cartel and its relationship to the Taliban, or simply the depth of Pakistani involvement in the propping up of the Taliban as a convenient political force in the region. If you learned everything you know about Central Asia after and through the lens of 9/11, this book will really help put the Taliban in a regional and historical context that makes sense. And yet it upends previous assumptions I had, such as just how linear the relationship between the Afghan mujahideen and the Taliban was. Quite a good book, well written and it really helps me trace the origin points for political phenomena in the region that before had me flummoxed.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Although written more than 20 years ago, this book remains very accurate to this day in understanding what the Taliban are, where they came from, and what's driving them. But as the sub-title indicates, author Ahmed Rashid weaves the history of the Taliban into the history of the Central Asia region because the Taliban doesn't exist in a vaccum and in fact Rashid demonstrates clearly the interplay between Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Central Asian former Soviet republics, the Middle East and the US.
For me, the top 3 important points this book makes are:
1) The Taliban wouldn't have emerged if the civil war following the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistant in 1989 didn't happen. They are a nasty, extremist by-product of that civil war.
2) The ideology of the Taliban is entirely foreign to Afghanistan. Historically, the Islam of the various ethnicities that make up Afghanistan has always been far more moderate.
3) It is probable that the Taliban wouldn't have succeeded and wouldn't have had any staying power if not for the significant help and active support from Pakistan, most especially its notorious secret services, the ISI. Pakistan bears a large responsibility for the ongoing mess since the 90s in Afghanistan, because it's been obsessed messing into Afghanistan because of this concept of using the Afghan space as "strategic depth" due to the limited geography of Pakistan in front of its nemesis India. What's crazy is that for Pakistan, supporting the Taliban and their extremist ideology has had tremendous negative consequences on Pakistan's economy, politics and social stability. The extremism of Taliban has spilled over into Pakistan, and still do to this day.
For me, the top 3 important points this book makes are:
1) The Taliban wouldn't have emerged if the civil war following the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistant in 1989 didn't happen. They are a nasty, extremist by-product of that civil war.
2) The ideology of the Taliban is entirely foreign to Afghanistan. Historically, the Islam of the various ethnicities that make up Afghanistan has always been far more moderate.
3) It is probable that the Taliban wouldn't have succeeded and wouldn't have had any staying power if not for the significant help and active support from Pakistan, most especially its notorious secret services, the ISI. Pakistan bears a large responsibility for the ongoing mess since the 90s in Afghanistan, because it's been obsessed messing into Afghanistan because of this concept of using the Afghan space as "strategic depth" due to the limited geography of Pakistan in front of its nemesis India. What's crazy is that for Pakistan, supporting the Taliban and their extremist ideology has had tremendous negative consequences on Pakistan's economy, politics and social stability. The extremism of Taliban has spilled over into Pakistan, and still do to this day.