Selected Product:
| Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
Hardcover
Author: Ahmed Rashid
Publisher: Viking Adult
Release Date: 2008-06-03
ISBN-10: 0670019704
ISBN-13: 9780670019700
List Price: $27.95
Average Customer Rating:
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Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
The #1 New York Times bestselling author provides a shocking analysis of the crisis in Pakistan and the renewed radicalism threatening Afghanistan and the West.
Ahmed Rashid is “Pakistan’s best and bravest reporter” (Christopher Hitchens). His unique knowledge of this vast and complex region allows him a panoramic vision and nuance that no Western writer can emulate.
His book Taliban first introduced American readers to the brutal regime that hijacked Afghanistan and harbored the terrorist group responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Now, Rashid examines the region and the corridors of power in Washington and Europe to see how the promised nation building in these countries has pro-gressed. His conclusions are devastating: An unstable and nuclear-armed Pakistan, a renewed al’ Qaeda profiting from a booming opium trade, and a Taliban resurgence and reconquest. While Iraq continues to attract most of American media and military might, Rashid argues that Pakistan and Afghanistan are where the conflict will finally be played out and that these failing states pose a graver threat to global security than the Middle East.
Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and the crisis in Pakistan are only the beginning. Rashid assesses what her death means for the region and the future. Rashid has unparalleled access to the figures in this global drama, and provides up-to-the-minute analysis better than anyone else. Descent Into Chaos will do for Central Asia what Thomas Rick’s Fiasco did for Iraq — offer a blistering critique of the Bush administration and an impassioned call to correct our failed strategy in the region.
The Chaos
| Customer Rating: | A better title for this excellent book might be "Maintaining the Chaos". The author is probably right in his assessment of US mismanagement of war, aid and influence in the Middle-East. How could it be otherwise though? The region is populated by hordes of people stuck in prehistoric, tribal mentality. Modern American leaders and policy makers stand about zero chance of knowing how to positively affect the outcome of events there. I doubt that we could dig up anyone in the West who could do much better than what has been done. Our history is not good, no matter who is in power.
If, however, some boys and girls in Afghanistan, or other countries in the region, get the chance now to go to school where they might not have otherwise, the world has made a little progress. |
A contemporary analysis of root causes of Taliban resurgence
| Customer Rating: | This is the second book from Ahmed Rashid I have read. In the first book, "Taliban", Ahmed Rashid raised the caution about Taliban back in 1998 when few in the world knew much about them. In this recent book, Ahmed Rashid has provided a detailed analysis of how did Taliban take advantage of USA's diverted attention due to its involvement in Iraq. And how did other powers in the region shielded them for their designs.
Much of the book is scholarly treatise, with ample references to reports and quotes. It also mentions inconsistencies in the work by other authors on Taliban.
In some sections, the book goes into minute details which prompts the reader to skip over pages.
In its entirety, however, it is a must-read book for anyone who wishes to explore the root causes of Taliban resurgence and the approaches to contain it. |
Author has excellent access...read this after Ghost Wars
| Customer Rating: | | I am headed over to Kabul in a couple weeks to work in NATO's security assistance force. I have been reading a ton about the region over the past several months. Ghost Wars stands alone as the best read out there, but its narrative ends abruptly on Sept 10, 2001. For me this book can serve as a worthy sequel since a great deal of it deals with events since 9/11. The author is extremely thorough and detailed, but he also manages to hold the reader's interest by addressing themes instead of providing a straight chronology, which would have been painful given everything he includes here. Be forewarned, the author is very critical of US policy in the region, and seems to frequently overstate the degree to which the US policymakers can drive reform around the world. But I will say he spreads his criticisms fairly to other quarters...such as Karzai's government, and ultimately his opinions are articulated well enough to actually add something to the book. A totally objective, unimpassioned text would have been very dry. The author is a Pakistani journalist with incredible access and sources in that part of the world, and his text includes extensive notation. It should also be said that the incoming commander of Central Command Gen David Patreaus is a fan of this book. He recently brought the author onto his 100-member strategy review team dealing with Central and South Asia. So if you want to quickly become 'well read' on the area, pick up this book. It's extremely relevant at this point and time. I'm going to bring this over with me because I'm expecting it to serve as an excelent reference for regional people and place names. |
Understanding Chaos
| Customer Rating: | | Ahmed Rashid is a brilliant Pakistani journalist who has visited much of Afghanistan and understands the relationships between Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He explains how Pakistan can be both for and against the Taliban, and how the war in Iraq is vitally changed by the tension between Pakistan and India over Kashmir. It's not an easy read, but if you want to understand what's going on in South Asia and the Middle East, his insight is invaluable. |
The incompetence of the Bush administration will startle you...
| Customer Rating: | We are so used to hearing about the failures of the war in Iraq that we seldom pay attention to the progress (or lack thereof) of the war in Afghanistan. However, as Obama points out, the Afghan-Pakistan border area is really the central front in the war on terror. Ahmed Rashid's book is THE guide to the past 7 years in the region. With expert insight and access to the key players (he is a personal friend of Afghan President Hamid Karzai), he provides a complete picture of regional politics and U.S. policy in the area. Some key surprises that should shock even the most hardcore Obama supporters include:
1. Rumsfeld was adamantly opposed to the U.S. addressing the rising opium problem, which funded the Taliban and has undermined our nation-building efforts. This short-term approach has led to a huge missed opportunity to rebuild Afghanistan and prevent it from becoming a terror safe-haven again.
2. U.S. intelligence knew that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence was continuing to help the Taliban, but still allied with Musharraf. After the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance retook Kabul, the U.S. let the ISI evacuate thousands of Taliban soldiers and terrorists to appease Musharraf. Thus, in effect, Bush allowed the biggest rescue operation for terrorists ever.
I can only hope the foreign policy advisors to the new president read this book. |
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