- Paperback: 276 pages
- Publisher: Pan; 3 edition (26 Oct 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330492217
- ISBN-13: 978-0330492218
- Product Dimensions: 13 x 1.8 x 19.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
114,818 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #14 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Islam > Festivals > Eid
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
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
International Herald Tribune
This is a riveting, balanced and well-informed book
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
This is good not just for its description of the origins of the Taliban, but also for Afghanistan's recent history and the role the superpowers played. Probably the best starting point if you want answers to the question: "What is going on in Afghanistan today?"
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Decades in preparation, this book presents the current Afghanistan tragedy in historical perspective and with personaL experience detailed in superb style and clarity. I am left wondering how, in a media-dominated global village, I could have remained so ignorant for so long. Essential reading for the post-Sept 11th age.
7 of 8 people found the following 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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Excellent insight into Afghanistan
I am only a little way into this book and it is hard going at first with all the history and geography to contend with. Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2010 by Dostoyevsky
Essential Reading
Ahmed Rashid is the best informed and most illuminating writer commenting on the challenges facing the Western World from the rise of Moslem fundamentalism in Pakistan &... Read more
Published on 27 Nov 2009 by H. A. Thorley
A must read for Afghanistan history enthusiasts
A fascinating book telling the history of the taliban in a supremely interesting manner.
From the start this book tells facts informatively, with maps, notes,... Read more
From the start this book tells facts informatively, with maps, notes,... Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2009 by Sally Wilton
Clear Sighted
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... Read more
Published on 3 April 2008 by Charles Vasey
History - International Meddling - Arabs & Taliban - Sunni vs Shia -...
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. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2008 by P. D. Wilson
Definitive
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... Read more
Published on 12 May 2007 by Mike Camel
Exceptional account of the rise of the Taliban
This is one of the best and most insightful histories of the rise of the Taliban, its impact on neighbouring states and the politics of oil. Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2002
Enlightening guide to this mysterious movement
Ahmed Rashid writes a seemingly objective analysis of this fascinating movement. Throughout history when looking at the start of a movement it is never a simple result of one man... Read more
Published on 21 Nov 2001
An outstanding study of a complex subject.
Ahmed Rashid says this book is 21 years in the making, I can understand that. Although the Taliban is a 90's phenomenon, Rashid takes us back through recent Afghanistan history... Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2001 by Ray Berry (rb@ipw.com)
well written and balanced opinion
A very good book by an author who knows the region well. Well worth a read to understand the motivation and the history behind current events
Published on 14 Nov 2001 by Aamir Akram
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