Scan barcode
A review by superike
Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid
4.0
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.