Viewer's review: Descent Into Chaos

Descent Into Chaos
Ahmed Rashid
ISBN-13: 978-0713998436

I have just recently finished reading ‘Descent Into Chaos’ by Ahmed Rashid, author of ‘Jihad’ and ‘Taliban’, who according to Christopher Hitchens is ‘Pakistan’s bravest and best reporter’. The book charts the rise of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion and how the situation declined into a state of corruption, violence and widespread terror under the Taliban regime.

The author gives an in-depth, veracious account of Afghanistan’s war torn history, following years of foreign incursion and civil wars amongst native tribes. Rashid lucidly describes the U.S invasion after 9/11 portraying vividly the situation and tensions leading up to the deployment of troops in October of 2001. During this war, Rashid strongly criticises the Bush administration’s failure to deal with Pakistan effectively, its seeming lack of interest in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, and the nature by which the US delegated power regionally to corrupt warlords and drug-dealers.

Pakistan is a central theme throughout the book. The President Pervez Musharraf’s willingness to harbour Al Qaeda and Taliban militants, his corrupt intelligence service, the ISI, and the existing conflict over Kashmir with India make Pakistan a keystone state in the fight against terrorism. However, vast aid, weapon supplies and donations from the U.S to Pakistan are only falling back into the hands of the enemy, argues Rashid.

The book does not go into vast details about the war in Iraq. Brief references are made intermittingly throughout suggesting to the reader that Iraq took U.S attention and interest away from Afghanistan. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the war against Islamic extremism, a war which in Afghanistan is still being fought.

By Stephen O Rourke, Ireland

Stephen has also recently enjoyed reading Letters To A Young Contrarian by Christopher Hitchens and Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.