![]() ![]() Afghanistan: From Holy War to Civil War analyzes how Islamic mujahedeen turned into ethnic warlords, paving the way for the rise of the Taliban. The French scholar Olivier Roy has written several books that address various aspects of the current crisis. ![]() This is a must read for anyone wanting to understand America's new war. ![]() His portraits of Afghan leaders whose names are now in the headlines are especially striking, with the recently assassinated Ahmed Shah Masud portrayed as a brilliant and vital "master of guerrilla warfare" adored by his men the Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostum as a "hard-drinking bear of a man" who has criminals crushed under tank tracks, and the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar as shy, reclusive and decidedly uncharismatic. No book provides as much insight into the Taliban movement's rise and success, including chapters on its religious ideology, organizational structure, heroin economy, policies toward women and shadowy support for Osama bin Laden and the "Arab Afghans." ![]() Richly detailed, the book grows out of Rashid's more than two decades of reporting from the region. Ahmed Rashid's Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, although redundantly subtitled, is my favorite reference on the Taliban movement. ![]()
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