Descent Into Chaos by Ahmed Rashid** decribes how the Bush White House gave up the chase of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in March 2002 and redirected to Iraq, allowing the two deadly terrorist movements to bounce back.
Reviewed by Sreeram Chaulia
As security in Afghanistan enters a freefall, the world’s worst fears are coming true. With the Taliban and al-Qaeda on the ascendant, hopes of a terrorism-free region have gone. The horizon in Afghanistan’s neighborhood is shrouded in violence and instability that threatens distant countries in an age of global jihad.
Reputed Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid’s new book chronicles the colossal errors of omission and commission that brought about this tragedy. His thesis is that the United States ignored opportunities to consolidate South and Central Asia and embarked on a grand folly in Iraq from 2003.
**Ahmed Rashid is “Pakistan’s best and bravest reporter” ~Christopher Hitchens. His unique knowledge of this vast and complex region allows him a panoramic vision and nuance that no Western writer can emulate.
His book Taliban/> first introduced American readers to the brutal regime that hijacked Afghanistan and harbored the terrorist group responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Now, Rashid examines the region and the corridors of power in Washington and Europe to see how the promised nation building in these countries has pro-gressed. His conclusions are devastating: An unstable and nuclear-armed Pakistan, a renewed al’ Qaeda profiting from a booming opium trade, and a Taliban resurgence and reconquest. While Iraq continues to attract most of American media and military might, Rashid argues that Pakistan and Afghanistan are where the conflict will finally be played out and that these failing states pose a graver threat to global security than the Middle East.
Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and the crisis in Pakistan are only the beginning. Rashid assesses what her death means for the region and the future. Rashid has unparalleled access to the figures in this global drama, and provides up-to-the-minute analysis better than anyone else. Descent Into Chaos will do for Central Asia what Thomas Rick’s Fiasco did for Iraq — offer a blistering critique of the Bush administration and an impassioned call to correct our failed strategy in the region.