If you want to learn about the Taliban, turn here first. Rashid gives you a clear picture of what the Taliban is, how it came to be, and why it came to be. It's a journalistic book, full of dates and names, but it's also a very engrossing tale of tragedy upon tragedy, and includes some interesting chapters on oil interests in Afghanistan.

This is a fine introduction to the recent history of Afghanistan written by a Pakistani journalist who has extensively covered the country. The writing is fairly dry, but a great deal of useful information is included. The book begins with a very brief summary of Afghan history and then goes on to describe the civil war that has followed the Soviet withdrawal and the Taliban's consolidation of power over most of the country. The myriad atrocities committed by all sides are covered, as is the impact the war has had on neighboring countries and on the cultural diversity that thrived inside Afghanistan itself. Cities such as Herat have had a centuries-long tradition of a vibrant and relatively open culture that was not understood by the poorly-educated Taliban, who came from one of the most covservative areas of the country. The oppression of women, the lack of any sort of economic plan for the country from the Taliban, and the importance of the international heroin trade for the government are all covered. A chapter is also devoted to discussing the extremely negative impact that its support for the Taliban has had and will continue to have on Pakistan.

Rashid dedicated a particularly interesting section of the book to what he has dubbed the 'new Great Game', the pursuit of oil and natural gas pipeline rights-of-way to bring the potentially huge reserves in the Caspian Sea region to end users in other countries and sea ports. This has brought huge US oil companies, smaller Argentinean concerns, the US government, the Russians, and other players all to the area, each anxious to further its own interests, even at the expense of paying homage to the repressive Taliban in some cases. This is a story that is far from over, and one that I can only hope will be interesting to follow for years to come.

There is also a fascinating and disturbing sampling of Taliban decrees about the status and behavior of women and cultural issues in an appendix as well as a detailed timeline of the Taliban's rise to power.

This book provides a good background and context for understanding the current situation in Afghanistan, and one that comes from a perspective different from that found in most American news sources. The only major complaints I had with it is that the maps could have been a bit more detailed and that the text was very poorly edited for spelling, grammar, word-choice, and sentence structure. One unfortunate (or perhaps prescient?) sentence was, "American citizens only woke up to the consequences when Afghanistan-trained Islamic militants blew up the World Trade Center in New York in 1993, killing six people and injuring 1,000" (p. 130).

A cliche is appropriate here. Ahmed Rashid owned this story.

A long-time correspondent based in Central Asia, Rashid was singularly situated to tell the world about the Taliban. Written well before the United States invaded Afghanistan, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia is a testament to the author's power of observation, ability to cultivate excellent sources, and prowess as an interviewer and a researcher. To the outside world, the Taliban seemed insane. Rashid chronicles why that distant perception was correct. Years as a journeyman reporter provided Rashid entree into places few independent sources could go. This unprecedented access, and Rashid's talent as a writer, convey the sheer madness that gripped Afghanistan. The result is the definitive book on the Taliban.

Rashid proves to be a brilliant analyst as well as an intrepid reporter. As an example, the author gives the best explanation to date of why the Taliban was so virulently misogynistic. Many of these Islamist fanatics, Rashid explains, were raised in all-male orphanages, educated only by men, and lived exclusively among other boys. This incisive explanation of the gender issue is typical of the author's best analyses, some of which come across almost as throwaway lines ("failed states are not necessarily dying states" springs to mind). Rashid also has a keen eye for the absurd. The number of Taliban officials missing limbs, eyes and other body parts, he notes, was quite disconcerting.

On a serious note, Rashid also examines the wider issues the Taliban represented. In the process, he spares no one. Such diverse personages as American oil barons, old-style Russian expansionists, Islamic religious fanatics, atavistic communist tyrants, and corrupt Muslim officials all receive the harsh treatment they richly deserve. The Taliban's Afghanistan truly became a quagmire for its enablers and enemies. As some regional powers promoted their vision of a religious utopia, they also sowed the seeds of their own destruction as Afghan-based terrorists put those very governments in their crosshairs. Unfortunately for the West, this failed state also gave al-Qaeda and heroin producers a sanctuary. Western energy interests, Wahhabi-promoting Saudis, Central Asian dictators, and power-crazed Pakistani intelligence officers sacrificed national interests for their narrow concerns, and Rashid makes it clear the world is a much more dangerous place as a result.

This book is a triumph precisely because the author ties together all these seemingly disparate evils--terrorism, repression, gratuitous violence, corporate greed, geopolitical hegemony, Islamic radicalism, drug trafficking----and makes a compelling case that the Taliban was more their symptom than cause.

Being born and grown up in the former Soviet Central Asia and closely following all the news from the region I consider myself quite in a position to judge Mr. Rashid's book "Jihad". It was a painful book to read - myriads of small and big factual mistakes on history and culture of Central Asia abound. What is true is often exaggerated and oversimplified. What kind of objective analysis is possible on such a ground?

I am myself from Kazakhstan and visit the country often so I know what the situation there is really like not just from Western TV or journalists like Mr. Rashid. I assure you that many of the socio-economic phenomena described in Mr. Rashid's book like wildly unstable currency, absence of reforms, wide-spread public discontent, youth eager to join Islamic militants etc etc are simply figments of his imagination. This is not to say that Kazakhstan does not have problems on political or economic issues but most of them are no worse than Russia's or Ukraine's. Ahmed Rashid is actually pretty well-known for putting Kazakhstan in the same basket with the other "stans" - a very big mistake for a trained journalist and a would be political analyst.

It is very unfortunate that the Western audience, especially the United States, have to learn about the outside world through the dim expertise of journalists like Mr. Rashid. It is no wonder that many development outside the US come to americans as shocking and surprising.

Ahmed Rashid, author of the best selling book Taliban, has once again come up with a good book. I have read one of his previous books on Central Asia, and that too was a good one, but this one seems to be much better. Also, in a region where alliances last short and situations changes quickly, books must be updated with new information and analysis. Mr. Rashid had written a good book which must be read by all people interested in Central Asian countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan and the inter-twined destinies of these countries.

Ahmed Rashid must be considered the most knowledgeable journalist of Central Asian affairs. Apart from books, his insightful writings have also appeared in reputable current-affairs magazines such as the 'Far Eastern Economic Review'.

In this latest book he once again provides a very detailed and balanced account of recent developments in one of the most tense regions in the world. During years of research and travel Rashid has not only sifted through a tremendous amount of literature and other documentary data, but also established what must be a unique network of informants throughout Central Asia. Such sources combined permit the author to penetrate deep into the murky world of Central Asian politics.

He is equally at home in the workings of the (former) Communist party and Soviet secret services apparatus as the emergence of radical Islamic resistance movements. The interesting and undoubtedly valuable information, which he presents on the less visible - yet very influential - Muslim activists in the region, is all the more important now that Osama bin Laden's portrayal as 'Evil Incarnate' has simultaneously turned him into a media star and the prime suspect for every terrorist act perpetrated.

Rashid's writing is characterized by a rare quality, which pairs unbiased analysis with empathy. The author is equally critical of the repression of the will of the people by current Central Asian leaders , the blind fanaticism of radical Muslims, and the one-sidedness of Western policy towards the region, which he blames on a lack of knowledge and appreciation of the complexities of Central Asian politics.

In his book Rashid does not shy away from giving his own view of what would constitute a more balanced policy towards Central Asia. By this he shows that an informed and critical stand does not preclude a sincere engagement, stemming from genuine sympathy for the tormented people of Central Asia.