My Favorite Review - Books: Descent into Chaos

Descent into Chaos

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Product:	Books
Category:	Non-Fiction
Published by:	Webmaster, San Fransisco, USA
Published Date:	9th June 2009
No. of Comments:	0
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This book by Ahmed Rashid and whose subtitle “The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia”, gives an idea of the scope that is covered. Needless to say it is vast. The author gives an introduction which describes US involvement in Afghanistan prior to 9/11. Specifically the support for the Mujahedeen to fight the Soviets and then the total disconnect and lack of interest once the Soviets were defeated. The book then fast forwards and covers in detail the years after 9/11 and how the Taliban were forced out and make their base the unruly no-man’s land between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The US then installs Karzai as president and the book lists all the reasons why he was ineffective as a ruler. These both relate to policy, our involvement in Iraq to the lack of interest to help ‘nation-build’ Afghanistan. The book is a long 560 pages. It is not an easy read, but gives good context of the how and why of the conflict there. This is especially important given the Obama administrations focus to shift “The war on Terro” to Afghanistan/Pakistan.