People have developed a taste for all things concerned with Afghan politics: chemical warfare and global politics included. Books about Afghanistan are continuing to attract strong readership interest, with a volume about the Taleban topping the best-seller lists for non-fiction in the US. Pakistani author Ahmed Rashid spent twenty-one years researching and writing his book, named Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia. Just 3,000 copies were published last year in London, but by September 11, 2001, more than 350,000 copies have been published in the US, and demand for the book has increased with 80,000 paperback copies just released. The book's fortunes were altered after the influential Yale University Press picked it up and it has now been translated into nine languages. The book certainly is not in the format of 'Every thing you wanted to know about Taliban but were afraid to ask' or 'Taliban for Dummies'. Ahmed Rashid brings the world of the Taliban into sharp focus in this enormously interesting and revealing book. He gives a vivid account of the Taleban, based on first-hand interviews and meetings, as well as widespread travel over many years to Afghanistan and its neighboring countries. "I really got down to writing it in 1998 when I realized no one knew anything about the Taliban and the world was ignoring the plight of the Afghans," he said. He thought the book would finally bring them some attention. This is a story that needs telling to a wide audience. It is the only authoritative account of the Taliban and modern day Afghanistan available to English language readers. Sometime in 1994, as Afghanistan tumbled into disarray in the wake of the civil war that followed the 1989 Soviet withdrawal, there emerged a highly secretive and heavily armed group known as the Taliban. Its declared purposes were to restore peace, to enforce traditional law and to defend the Islamic character of Afghanistan. The world now knows the rest of the story. After they captured Kabul in September 1996, it became clear to all observers that the Taliban is about as impenetrable a political organization as exists anywhere in the world. He describes the Taliban' s role as a major player in a new "Great Game" -- a competition among Western countries and companies to build oil and gas pipelines from Central Asia to South Asian markets. The route goes directly through Afghanistan and ends in Karachi, Pakistan. "Policy was not being driven by politicians and diplomats," he writes, "but by the secretive oil companies and intelligence services of the regional states." The author also discusses the controversial changes in American attitudes toward the Taliban- -from early support to recent bombings of Osama Bin Laden' s hideaway and other Taliban-protected terrorist bases--and how they have influenced the stability of the region. In conclusion, what Ahmed Rashid writes is very revealing in the present situation. If there were peace, then Afghanistan would receive a substantial reconstruction package by international donors. Peace in Afghanistan would also pay enormous dividends across the entire region including Pakistan. Lets hope he is correct. Ahmed Rashid lives in Lahore and is a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review and Daily Telegraph reporting on Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. |
