About the Author:
Ahmed Rashid has been writing about Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and the Middle East since 1979. He began his career at the Far Eastern Economic Review, where he was a correspondent for twenty-three years. Since then his work has appeared in the Financial Times, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, El Mundo, and BBC Online, as well as in publications throughout Pakistan. His books, which have been translated into more than forty languages, include the best-selling Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia (2000); Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia (2002); Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia (2008); and most recently, Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan (2012). A former member of the board of advisers for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Rashid has also been an informal adviser to governments and organizations (including the United Nations) whose aim is to bring peace to Afghanistan. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists, is an adviser to Human Rights Watch, and has been involved in the Lahore Literary Festival since its launch in 2012. In 2001 he used a portion of his book royalties to found the Open Media Fund of Afghanistan, which has assisted in the launch of a dozen newspapers and magazines in that country. To read more of his work, please visit https://www.facebook.com/ahmedrashidpage.
Review:
“As an introduction to the history and culture of the region, Ahmed Rashid’s is as good as you will find.”—The Times Literary Supplement
“Ahmed Rashid is one of Pakistan’s most gifted and astute political commentators. This account will be of interest to scholars and lay readers alike. What makes it especially valuable is that Rashid’s priorities are very different from those of most Western observers.”—Tariq Ali
“Ahmed Rashid writes concisely, keeping up a rapid pace starting with the historical background of the region, looking in turn at its five republics—Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan—and finally at their common interests and rivalries.... Rashid’s book is eminently dispassionate and unideological.”—The New York Times
"The five republics are examined with a sharp eye for detail and an uncanny ability to focus on the internal feuds and rivalries of the newly independent states." —Independent
"The first readable, thorough account of the region." —Financial Times
"A well documented and readable book about societies of great complexity." —Choice
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