Customer Reviews
Clear Sighted - By: Charles Vasey, 03 Apr 2008 
This is an excellent piece of journalism that reaches into being history. The author has interviewed most of the key players & gives a clear view of the events up to & beyond the Soviet withdrawal. The pros & the cons of all the factions are carefully considered; one can begin to see how & why each did what they did. The mixture of religion, ethnicity, commerce & drugs is well described. One has the clear feeling that no faction can ever overwhelm the others completely, & some factions cannot compromise. The description of the shattering of the traditional Afghan life is very moving; the Soviets may not have won that war, but they made sure no-one else did either.
History - International Meddling - Arabs & Taliban - Sunni vs Shia - Investment Potential - The Hope - By: P. D. Wilson, 23 Feb 2008 Fantastic Book. I have livedin Saudi for years extensively travelledin the Mid east & Pakistan. Read 100's of books on the region. This was excellent.
Starting with the rise of the Taliban their roots & how they rose to control the majority of the country. How International meddling goes on creating further tension & increased conflict internally on all aspects of Afghan life. The roots of Talib-Arab allegiances. The Sunni vs Shia aspect. The investment potential of oil pipelines. Finally closing with a startling way of how the country could finally find peace IF ONLY the world leaders would read it & abide by his revelations.
WOW. Best readin years.
Definitive - By: Mike Camel, 13 May 2007 I read thisin one of its first editions. It is without question THE definitive description of the story of the Taliban & the civil war yearsin Afghanistan (between the Soviet withdrawal & the Northern Alliance/US/UK attack).
I assume that this is an updated edition, asin an earlier edition it was sub-titled something about "oil & the new Great Game"in Central Asia; as such, I assume it will have at least one or more new chapters to summarise developmentsin recent years.
Bearin mind that the term "Taliban" is often used, since the US invasion, as some sort of a blanket word for a complicated amalgamation of guerilla factions, some of whom fought each otherin the civil war years, who are now fighting the foreigners & the Kabul regime.
Taliban: The Story of Afghan Warlords - By: R. CHOWN, 25 Jul 2006 I was going to be deployed to Afghanistan with the Army & wasin a need to gain some solid background knowledge of the situationin the country, after asking around many of my colleagues, they all pretty much recommended this book.
I have subsequently read the book by Ahmed Rashid & was very impressed. This is a must read for all those wishing to learn more about Afghanistan & the troubles this country has faced.
Thoroughly engrossing - By: , 20 Dec 2002 I felt very ignorant of the situationin Afghanistan & reading this book has proven to me that I really was! It is addictive reading, I found. With a new baby I have little time to read but squeezein some time just before bedtime to read a couple of pages. I understand the people & groups involved, the complexities of the history of Afghanistan, the geography of that whole region just by reading this book. My son dropped it into a sink of water & I have just re-ordered it. All that knowledge & I had only got as far as page 134! An excellent, informative book. Heavy going at first, with lots of historic detail, but perservere, it's worth it. I watch the news now with a whole different perspective on the situationin that region as a whole.
