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| Taliban: The Story of Afghan Warlords | 
 enlarge | Author: Ahmed Rashid
Publisher: Pan Books
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £5.89
You Save: £2.10 (26%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 74598
Media: Paperback
Pages: 200
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0330492217
Dewey Decimal Number: 324
EAN: 9780330492218
ASIN: 0330492217
Publication Date: October 26, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Ahmed Rashid's Taliban: The story of the Afghan Warlords is the single best book available on the subject of the regime in Afghanistan responsible for harbouring the terrorist Osama bin Laden. Rashid is a Pakistani journalist who has spent most of his career reporting on the region--he has personally met and interviewed many of the Taliban's shadowy leaders. Taliban was written and published before the massacres of September 11, 2001, yet it is essential reading for anyone who hopes to understand the aftermath of that black day. It includes details on how and why the Taliban came to power, the government's oppression of ordinary citizens (especially women), the heroin trade, oil intrigue, and--in a vitally relevant chapter--bin Laden's sinister rise to power. These pages contain stories of mass slaughter, beheadings and the Taliban's crushing war against freedom: Under Mullah Omar, it has banned everything from kite flying to singing and dancing at weddings. Rashid is for the most part an objective reporter, though his rage sometimes (and understandably) comes to the surface: "The Taliban were right, their interpretation of Islam was right, and everything else was wrong and an expression of human weakness and a lack of piety", he notes with sarcasm. He has produced a compelling portrait of modern evil. --John Miller
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
Clear Sighted April 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an excellent piece of journalism that reaches into being history. The author has interviewed most of the key players and gives a clear view of the events up to and beyond the Soviet withdrawal. The pros and the cons of all the factions are carefully considered; one can begin to see how and why each did what they did. The mixture of religion, ethnicity, commerce and drugs is well described. One has the clear feeling that no faction can ever overwhelm the others completely, and 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 February 23, 2008
Fantastic Book. I have lived in Saudi for years extensively travelled in the Mid east and Pakistan. Read 100's of books on the region. This was excellent.
Starting with the rise of the Taliban their roots and how they rose to control the majority of the country. How International meddling goes on creating further tension and 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 and abide by his revelations.
WOW. Best read in years.
Definitive May 13, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this in one of its first editions. It is without question THE definitive description of the story of the Taliban and the civil war years in Afghanistan (between the Soviet withdrawal and the Northern Alliance/US/UK attack).
I assume that this is an updated edition, as in an earlier edition it was sub-titled something about "oil and the new Great Game" in Central Asia; as such, I assume it will have at least one or more new chapters to summarise developments in recent years.
Bear in 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 other in the civil war years, who are now fighting the foreigners and the Kabul regime.
Taliban: The Story of Afghan Warlords July 25, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I was going to be deployed to Afghanistan with the Army and was in a need to gain some solid background knowledge of the situation in 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 and was very impressed. This is a must read for all those wishing to learn more about Afghanistan and the troubles this country has faced.
Thoroughly engrossing December 20, 2002
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I felt very ignorant of the situation in Afghanistan and 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 squeeze in some time just before bedtime to read a couple of pages. I understand the people and 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 and I have just re-ordered it. All that knowledge and 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 situation in that region as a whole.
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