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