Ahmed Rashid's Blog

Afghanistan Revealed offers fresh perspectives on an ancient territory obscured by tales of tragic conflict. The compendium not only sheds new light, but offers fresh hope. It is essential reading

Tim Butcher

Best-selling author of ‘Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart’

Afghanistan Revealed offers the reader an incisive view into a country that has held the world’s attention for more than a decade. Hardly a day goes by without Afghanistan making news in the media – but behind the headlines, what do we really know about this complex and enigmatic country, its people, its culture and most importantly, its future? This ebook takes us beyond the media focus on politics and war into the lives of the Afghan people, and the forces that have shaped their individual and collective history.

A range of distinguished specialists shed light on Afghanistan, from the earliest Aryan migrations and the emergence of Islam, through the country’s role as a key Central Asian trade centre, the Anglo-Afghan wars and the Soviet invasion, to the emergence of a post-Taliban state. We are reminded of how the Afghans have suffered in centuries of violent conflict and have stubbornly resisted all efforts to invade and dominate their land. We are presented with the tasks Afghanistan faces after the 2014 withdrawal of NATO-led combat troops, specifically the need to rebuild the country, create jobs, provide education, tap into its huge economic potential, and provide political and social harmony.

Readable and accessible, Afghanistan Revealed is essential background for anyone wishing to understand why peace and stability in the region have been so elusive. It is also an indispensable tool for foreign and Afghan policymakers who play a role in determining Afghanistan’s future.

The iPad-only edition of this ebook has been supplemented with 90 stunning images by a number of award-winning photographers.

The leading journalist on Pakistan lays out America's options with Pakistan and Afghanistan in the post-Bin Laden years.

The leading journalist on Pakistan lays out America's options with Pakistan and Afghanistan in the post-Bin Laden years.

What are the possibilities-and hazards-facing America as it withdraws from Afghanistan and as it reviews its long engagement in Pakistan? Where is the Taliban now in both these countries? What does the immediate future hold and what are America's choices as President Obama considers our complicated history and faces reelection?

These are some of the crucial questions that Ahmed Rashid- Pakistan's preeminent journalist-takes on in this follow-up to his acclaimed Descent into Chaos. Rashid correctly predicted that the Iraq war would have to be refocused into Afghanistan and that Pakistan would emerge as the leading player through which American interests and actions would have to be directed. Now, as Washington and the rest of the West wrestle with negotiating with unreliable and unstable "allies" in Pakistan, there is no better guide to the dark future than Ahmed Rashid.

He focuses on the long-term problems-the changing casts of characters, the future of international terrorism, and the actual policies and strategies both within Pakistan and Afghanistan and among the Western allies-as the world tries to bring some stability to a fractured region saddled with a legacy of violence and corruption. The decisions made by America and the West will affect the security and safety of the world. And as he has done so well in the past, Rashid offers sensible solutions and provides a way forward for all three countries.

About the Author

Ahmed Rashid is a journalist who has been covering Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia for more than twenty years. He is a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, Far Eastern Economic Review, Daily Telegraph, and The Nation, a leading newspaper in Pakistan. His #1 New York Times bestseller Taliban has been translated into more than twenty languages.

As the events of September 11 showed, neglected areas of the Islamic world are feeding grounds for international terrorism. And as Rashid, author of the best-selling Taliban, shows in this important work, Islamic fundamentalism is gaining ground in Central Asia as well as it did in neighboring Afghanistan.

- From Publishers Weekly

Sunday, March 3, 2002 (SF Chronicle)

In the streets of Kabul and Kandahar, the name Juma Namangani had cachet. It still...

Journalist Rashid covers the history, geography, economy, and social system of five ancient, predominantly Muslim nations that with the breakup of the Soviet Union, have suddenly become independent states: Kazackstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan.

- From Book News, Inc.

Ahmed Rashid writes concisely, keeping ...

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.