Cascoly - Amazon Books

Afghanistan - Iraq - Taliban

"Eighty percent of Afghans today live in the same exact landscape Alexander the Great must have beheld when he sacked Balkh in 327 B.C., and Genghis Khan when he sacked it again in 1221: walls of straw and mud, half-gnawed away by weather and age; hand-sown fields tilled by doubled-over farmers in unbleached robes with knobbly, wooden tools. Most have no electricity. No clean water. No paved roads. No doctors nearby..." Foreign Affairs, 4/28/2010

Taliban - Ahmed Rashid

Rashid's book describes regional instability before 9/11 and shows the historical ethnic reasons for modern alliances. Published presciently in 2000, he analyses without the benefit of hindsigh -- particularly the US - Taliban relationship dictated more by Unocal oil interests and an anti Iran foreign policy than by consideration of the Taliban's actual actions

Descent into Chaos -Ahmed Rashid The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia

is the disturbing sequel to the first book, following events in Central Asia to 2008. Ahmed Rashid's comprehensive study argues that the United States should have focused on nation building in Afghanistan after 9/11 and used whatever resources necessary. He documents Afghan President Hamid Karzai's rise to power and blames him for surrounding himself with less than capable people and not making more progress in combating drug trafficking. Rashid provides a detailed account of the regional context and interconnections of the Afghan conflict, insisting that "the key to peace for the entire region lies with Pakistan." He criticizes the United States for having relied too heavily on former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and documents the Inter-Services Intelligence's support for the Taliban, which he identifies as an extension of its geopolitical rivalry with India. Foreign Affairs

The Gilgit Game and When Men & Mountains Meet

John Keay's classic accounts of the British attempts to explore and subdue Afghanistan and Pakistan's Northwest Frontier

The Places in Between. Rory Stewart's account of his trek across Afghanistan in 2002 reveals the deep impact of decades of bloody warfare on Afghan society

The Storyteller�s Daughter - Saira Shah

RESURRECTING EMPIRE - Rashid Khalidi

Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East

Night Draws Near

In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan. By Seth G. Jones. presents the war in its historical context, beginning with Alexander the Great and the proven ability of Afghans to bring down strong empires.

Deja vu
- several recent books off history evoke modern parallels:

- an American president seeks to avoid difficulties with domestic politics by making a preemptive attack on a vastly inferior nation. The initial invasion goes well, but is soon bogged down when the mismatched enemy forces refuse to come out in open field battle. ..... however, this war took place 150 years ago!

An invading force gets bogged down in New Jersey and fights an insurgency