Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
by Ahmed Rashid
List Price:
Our Price: $84.80
You Save: $42.45 (33%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Ahmed RashidReader: Arthur Morey
Edition: Audio Cassette
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Published: 2008-06-03
ISBN: 1423368053
Publisher: Brilliance Audio Unabridged Lib Ed
Book Reviews of Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
Book Review: Warmongering insanity
Summary: 1 Stars
Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid is a friend and supporter of Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai. Rashid warns that Afghanistan is facing state collapse, Pakistan is in meltdown, and the five Central Asian states are dictatorships. He claims that the most important thing in the world is to rebuild these nations.
He shows that President Karzai's regime depends on warlords and drug barons, who are backed by the CIA. Britain's forces there are supposed to be helping to cut opium production, but their policy of paying farmers to destroy their opium crops has been `disastrous'. Opium production soared from 4,000 tons in 2005 to 8,200 in 2007. Half of this was grown in British-occupied Helmand, where the rest of Afghanistan's opium was sold.
The USA is allied to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which are al-Qaeda's main sponsors. The USA has given more than $10 billion to Pakistan's President Musharraf. Bush backed him even after he tore up the constitution, sacked the judges, imprisoned more than 12,000 people and muzzled the media. This `created immense hatred for the U.S. Army and America'.
The USA's torture of POWs has further increased this hatred. As Rashid writes, "By following America's lead in promoting or condoning disappearances, torture, and secret jails, these countries found their path to democracy and their struggle against Islamic extremism set back by decades. Western-led nation building had little credibility if it denied justice to the very people it was supposed to help. It could well be argued that over time Islamic extremists were emboldened rather than subdued by the travesty of justice the United States perpetrated. The people learned to hate America. ... The deterioration of human rights in each country became linked to that government's proximity to the CIA."
So the USA's wars have increased the al-Qaeda threat, particularly in Pakistan. Rashid also notes that US interventions have failed in Yugoslavia and East Timor and made a hell-hole of Iraq.
And then - after all this - Rashid calls on the USA, not to get out of the region, but to get deeper in. More sanely, he also calls on the peoples of the region to take responsibility for moving their nations towards democracy.
More Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia reviews:
1 2
1 2
Audiobooks on Cassette
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Audiobooks on Cassette
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing NonfictionHarperAudio; Published: 1994-10-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $5.90
Price in other shops:
Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday LifeMacmillan Audio; Published: 2001-07-20; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $45.62
Dead as a Doornailby Charlaine Harris
Recorded Books; Published: 2005-12; Audio Cassette; Book
Price in other shops:
Killing Floor (Jack Reacher, No. 1)by Lee Child
Bookcassette; Published: 1997-03-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Price in other shops:
Pride and Prejudice (Bookcassette(r) Edition)by Jane Austen
Bookcassette; Published: 1993-04-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Price in other shops:
The Secret Life of Beesby Sue Monk Kidd
Books on Tape; Published: 2002-12; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $90.00
Adventures of Huckleberry Finnby Mark Twain
Books in Motion; Published: 1990-06; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $23.99
Forrest Gumpby Winston Groom
Audioworks; Published: 2001-01-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $17.62
Three Cups of Tea with Headphonesby Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin
Playaway; Published: 2008-09; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $64.99
Brisingrby Christopher Paolini
Playaway; Published: 2009-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $89.99
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Withinby Shuja Nawaz
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-07-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.39
Price in other shops:
The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Talibanby Sarah Chayes
Penguin Press HC, The; Published: 2006-08-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.40
Price in other shops:
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001by Steve Coll
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2004-12-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.25
Price in other shops:
Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured Worldby Ashraf Ghani, Clare Lockhart
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-05-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.47
Price in other shops:
The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremismby Ron Suskind
Harper; Published: 2008-08-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.48
Price in other shops:
The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalismby Andrew Bacevich
Metropolitan Books; Published: 2008-08-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.77
Price in other shops:
The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008by Bob Woodward
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2008-09-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.95
Price in other shops:
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Idealsby Jane Mayer
Doubleday; Published: 2008-07-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.99
Price in other shops:
Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asiaby Ahmed Rashid
Yale University Press; Published: 2000-02-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $37.57
Price in other shops:
The Post-American Worldby Fareed Zakaria
W. W. Norton; Published: 2008-05-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.24
Price in other shops: