“Taliban” by Ahmed Rashid – published I B Tauris 2000 with revised and enlarged edition 2010: This paperback, with excellent notes and appendices by a Pakistani journalist, is essential reading for understanding Afghanistan and its neighbours, especially Pakistan. It underlines the trauma caused by continuous warfare from 1979 to 1996, followed by the Taliban rule,…
The sad news of the death of Dr Woo and her colleagues comes at the same time as the news that a UK policeman has been shot and killed in Afghanistan. In many ways this goes to the heart of the problem in Afghanistan and some other developing country’s. It may be a long time…
Just whenI was getting a little optimistic about the changing leadership roles in the Taliban I discover another horror story. On Monday in north west Pakistan they blew up five schools. They have now destroyed 180 schools and,of course, banned education for girls. The Taliban are getting more control in this area of Pakistan which…
