List Of Books Descent into Chaos: The United States & the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan & Central Asia
| Title | : | Descent into Chaos: The United States & the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan & Central Asia |
| Author | : | Ahmed Rashid |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 544 pages |
| Published | : | June 3rd 2008 by Viking (first published 2007) |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. History. Politics. Cultural. Pakistan. War |
Ahmed Rashid
Hardcover | Pages: 544 pages Rating: 3.95 | 2392 Users | 202 Reviews
Narrative Toward Books Descent into Chaos: The United States & the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan & Central Asia
Even more than a decade after its publication Descent Into Chaos is a must read for anyone interested in ongoing events in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the central Asian “stans” that make up one of the most politically volatile areas on earth. Rashid is both a journalist and a participant, having been a member of various groups and committees attempting to address the ongoing conflicts. As such he brings his own personal list of good guys and bad guys, and should be taken with a grain of salt. But the level of detail presented here is impressive and illuminating.
Ahmed Rashid - image from Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau
The main foci in Descent are Pakistan and Afghanistan. Rashid characterizes Pakistan as being unlike other nations, “The epithet that ‘countries have armies, but in Pakistan the army has a country’ came true…” (p 38) He demonstrates over and over the hold the military has over the nation and shows how it has been nearly impossible for civilian rule to come to much when it must always remain subservient to those with all the guns. One of the major organizations within the military is the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate). This is the entity that has been responsible for supporting the Taliban in both Afghanistan and now in Pakistan itself, that has seen to it that massive percentages of aid received from the USA and intended for use in anti-terrorist activities have been diverted to supporting the Taliban and to paying for bolstering Pakistan’s traditional defenses against India.
Despite USA propaganda about a desire for democracy in Afghanistan, American actions went in an entirely other direction, offering money to warlords at the expense of the central, Karzai-led government, looking the other way at the burgeoning poppy agriculture that was funding the Taliban and corrupt warlords. The USA did nothing about Pakistan providing a safe harbor, training, equipment, expertise and personnel for the Taliban, then sending them back in to Afghanistan to wreak havoc on US-supported forces. The USA left wide swaths of the country unpatrolled, thus allowing escaping Taliban an easy exit during the initial bombardments.
I was most taken with the recurring impact of Donald Rumsfeld on events in the area, his pig-headedness in caring not a whit about building back up the nation his army was helping destroy. He consistently made decisions that led to the worst possible outcomes, leading to the situation today, in which Afghanistan remains much less an actual country than a collection of warlords protecting their individual turf, with a national leadership that has compromised so much that there is almost no effective central power to speak of. The poppy crop is doing very nicely, but it could have been otherwise had there been actual investment in developing the available resources to allow and encourage production of non-opium crops.
I learned the most about Pakistan. Rashid makes it very clear, in painful detail, how the country has arrived at today’s precipice, with a resurgent Taliban threatening the existence of what government Pakistan still retains.
Rashid offers considerable discussion of the role of NATO, and the reluctance of most NATO members to contribute much of anything to an attempt to stabilize war-ravaged Afghanistan. If the USA can be counted on to do the right thing, after all other options have been exhausted, European members of NATO can usually be relied on to delay, and limit any contributions they are called on to make, adding impossible conditions and minimal financial support.
Rashid also looks at the situations in the neighboring “stans,” Uzbejkistan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazahkstan. It is not a pretty picture. The entire area is a mess, with evil dictators virtually enslaving their own populations, while enriching themselves and gaining USA support by offering use of their territory as bases for US action in Afghanistan. He even offers an example of how the USA managed to lose all influence with one of these, as Russia and China swooped in to offer support to one psychotic dictator when the US began demanding that the psycho tone it down a bit. Rashid seemed to be saying that the USA had messed up here in losing access to the nation, but he offers no suggestions for what the US might have done to retain its access.
Sometimes Rashid’s judgments are a questionable. He was much impressed with a fellow named Abdul Haq. Rashid sees him as having been a potential leader of Afghanistan, a charismatic leader bent on opposing the Taliban. Yet, despite having no state support, and only personal funding from some American millionaires, Haq pushed ahead with his plans to foment an anti-Taliban insurrection, yet could manage less than three dozen actual fighters. He was soon captured and killed. Surely a truly effective and thoughtful leader would not have made such a rash decision. He must have had a lot less going on within him than Rashid gives him credit for. And if he was so wrong about Haq, one wonders where else Rashid's personal feelings about relevant individuals might have affected his ability to evaluate their intelligence, leadership capacity, or motives.
The bottom line here is that the situation in the entire area is intensely depressing. Pakistan is on the edge of becoming a failed state. Afghanistan appears little closer to having a stable, democratic society. The Taliban is the only force in the area that seems to be thriving. Rashid offers only tonics for what one might do. It is clear that opportunities have been lost, and it is not clear that the Obama administration had any better ideas about how to proceed to stabilize the region than Bush did. It seems safe to expect that whatever actions are undertaken by the Trump administration, they will serve Russian more than American interests.
One item I found very helpful in the book was a collection of maps in the front. I referred to them frequently. It would have been helpful had there been a glossary at the back. There are many acronyms here and I often had to search back several pages to re-discover what some of them meant. But this is a quibble. The book is illuminating, far reaching, and stands well the test of time.
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Details Books In Favor Of Descent into Chaos: The United States & the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan & Central Asia
| Original Title: | Descent into Chaos |
| ISBN: | 0670019704 (ISBN13: 9780670019700) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Lionel Gelber Prize Nominee (2009), Orwell Prize Nominee (2009), Arthur Ross Book Award for Silver Medal (2009) |
Rating Of Books Descent into Chaos: The United States & the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan & Central Asia
Ratings: 3.95 From 2392 Users | 202 ReviewsAssess Of Books Descent into Chaos: The United States & the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan & Central Asia
This was a really good book, a must read for anyone interested in the history of the region. Rashid is very well informed about the region and sheds great light on the complicated matter of its political and economic contradictions. Moreover, he does so in a readily accessible, journalistic style which will enable many readers to learn a lot in a short time about this war-torn part of the world.For those of you interested in the 2001 portion of the war in Afghanistan, there aren't loads of newThis is a very compelling and instructive account of Afghanistan and Pakistan since September 11/2001. The sordid relationship of Pakistan to the Afghan Taliban is described in detail. Pakistan was responsible for the birth of the Taliban and after 9/11 provided sanctuary for them in the FATA region of Pakistan. Musharraf was playing a double game of pretending to combat terrorism (al Qaeda and the Taliban) and aiding the terrorists at the same time. This would eventually come back to haunt
Rashid is a Pakistani journalist who specialized in explaining the Taliband and Afghanistan to the West before 9/11. Because of his extensive knowledge he was consulted by many NATO and western countries in their policies and their fight against terrorist.Why I started this book: It's been on my to-read list since last year and I finally found an audio copy.Why I finished it: This book was so frustrating to read, and I bet that it was even more frustrating to live. Bush and his cronies
Read this on my 24 hour long road trip from Islamabad to Kandahar. It's an interesting read--highly anti-American, I must say--but it reveals a great deal of Afghanistan and Pakistan's past going back to the time of Zia, Bhutto, Daoud and the Russian invasion.It pulled me into the world of politics and current affairs, so I guess it worth a 4-star rating, even though I've read better books since. Descent into Chaos is a scathing criticism of the Bush-years, which we all must agree were a fucking
Even more than a decade after its publication Descent Into Chaos is a must read for anyone interested in ongoing events in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the central Asian stans that make up one of the most politically volatile areas on earth. Rashid is both a journalist and a participant, having been a member of various groups and committees attempting to address the ongoing conflicts. As such he brings his own personal list of good guys and bad guys, and should be taken with a grain of salt. But
This was one big sprawl of a depressing read, far too complex for my abilities as a reviewer to put neatly into any sort synopsis or overview. Luckily that has already been done brilliantly by Will Byrnes, whose review I highly recommend.Instead I shall note a few points that I picked up from the book, just things that particularly stuck me. (view spoiler)[*Nation building:The author viewed nation building as the bedrock for positive progress. War should be followed by help with restructuring;
Rashid obviously is one of the most knowledgable people about the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan and this book is packed full of it. It is a slow read but that's mainly because it's so full of information. It's set up like his first book, Taliban, with a general history of the situation followed by chapters looking at the problems from several relevant angles. Rashid is extremely critical of the entire Bush administration and not for political reasons, but because of their mishandling of
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