Rob goes into Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan war, and realizes how plastic and robotic his life really is. There he falls in love with Afghanistan...the people, the land, the animals. Rob goes on to chronicle many parts of the war, from 1984-1987. The really unique piece, was the eye witness accounts of men and figures that I have read about in texts on the war.

This in itself could have carried the book; but he goes on to do more. For those of us sleepwalking through life, many will find this book a breath of fresh air. The book chronicles his many adventures, tales of the absurd, his fear of being killed, his bouts of depression, and the many hilarious situations that can only occur in war-time Afghanistan.

I think Rob found a piece of his soul in Afghanistan and in turn, he allows the reader to witness some of it. I for one, thank Rob for the oppurtunity.

Rob Schultheis does a great job making you feel the cold, the sore feet, exhaustion and fear while being hunted by armed tribesmen and Soviet airforces inside Afghanistan.

A great book to read on your next plane trip across country. I couldn't put it down and neither have the troopers I work with. It has been passed around so much I doubt I will ever see my copy again.

Evocative, beautiful, terrible and short. The madness and evil of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, in which the clumsy terror and brutality of the modern totalitarian state meets an ancient yeomen/warrior tradition of independence and honor. Modern, brutal, indiscriminate, and total thuggery versus the mercurial but brave cavalryman/tribal warrior. The miracle is that anything at all (garden, tree, house, family) survives in Afghanistan.

The writer evokes spiritual and social traditions that survive in Afghanistan to this day. Especially, male friendships that seem strangely important to our modern ears but contribute to a heroism that is irrational but ultimately successful in driving out the Russians (at a huge cost). Likewise, the strict code of honor---when our author was abandoned in mountains at night by a treacherous guide, a local leader promptly sought out the offender to kill him.

This is a sweeping examination of the world scene that moves easily from analysis to tough recommendations.

If you want to put current questions about what is happening around the world into context, especially questions about the source and role of global terror, Unfinished Business is a book well worth reading. Its author, Harlan Ullman, has inner-office access to both Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; indeed he has had access to most of the leaders of the last two decades. In Unfinished Business, he not only focuses on the likely need for the current President Bush to finish what his father surprisingly left undone in the Gulf War. More importantly, Ullman also focuses on America's -- indeed western civilization's true and more profound unfinished business: spurring strong economic and social/political progress around the globe. This Ullman sees as the fundamental means of eradicating most of the sources and causes of terror.

On the way to discussing the need for global growth, Ullman also suggests we pay more attention to our own homeland security system, lest the unfinished business that gets finished first is another attack on the United States. Ullman?s view is that our openness makes us very vulnerable and that upsetting the U.S. economy is a principle objective of bin Laden and his followers.

As Under Secretary of the Navy from 1997 through 2000, I often met with Harlan Ullman to discuss defense policy. Like his book, his insights were always tough-minded and worthy of thought and action.

With a foreword by Senator John McCain, this book should be read by anyone who now plays, or hopes to play a guiding role in America in the next decade. If you are leading a "great issues / great decisions" study group in your local community, I would highly recommend Unfinished Business as a way to inform and excite minds that are eager to learn more about world affairs.

Dr. Ullman has, with startling clarity and prescience provided the reader with a blueprint for international stability and national security. His analysis is sound and uncompromising and his recommendations capture the essence of not only today's strategic environment, but the future's as well. This book needs to be required reading for the present presidential administration, as well as the entire defense establishment. More importantly, it should be in the library of every informed American. To turn a nautical term denoting excellence: Bravo Zulu!

A truly well written and concise book offering an excellent historical perspective and most effectively utilizing specifics to describe, analyze, and clarify positions. Through a common-sense approach, the author offers detailed background information to support his insights into many of the most urgent challenges facing the United States at the present time. While presenting a realistic view of the current worldwide situation, Dr. Ullman captures the key decisions facing American Foreign Policy with most logical options and appealing solutions.

As an American living in several parts of the world in which Islam has a strong influence, I have always had a bit of a problem with the mainstream categorization of Islam as a fanatical approach to solving normal human problems.

Kaplan, once again, gets beneath the surface of things to discover that all is not what it seems. As he himself freely admits in the new introduction to this edition, he was somewhat biased by his visceral experiences on the front lines in 1980s Afghanistan, in which he shared life and death with the mujahidin. His square placement of blame on the US for its blind reliance on Pakistan to provide intelligence and diplomacy on the war in Afghanistan is probably a bit short-sighted.

Nevertheless, if anyone has any curiosity about how Bin Laden and his ilk came to find Afghanistan a safe-have, they should read this book. The updated intro and new last chapter are good additions in light of the prescience which lies beneath the surface of the original prose.

From the opening pages to the closing chapter of Soldiers of God, Robert D. Kaplan paints an intricate and vivid image of his experiences in Afghanistan throughout the 1980's. Soldiers of God intimately describes the details of the author's tumultuous stay in Afghanistan and his close personal relationship with many of the important figures in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation from 1979-1989.
The accumulation of Soldiers of God lies in Kaplan's numerous associations with various Islamic warriors, important figures in Afghanistan and journalists he encounters along the way. Various individuals he meets catalyze the linear narrative of the book and serves as a means of advancing the book through his memoirs. "[He] had met Palestinian leaders in Syria and Jordan, Polisario leaders in Algeria, Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq and Iran, and Eritrean and Tigrean guerrillas in northern Ethiopia," demonstrates the extent to which Kaplan met and befriended an insurmountable array of people and learned about Afghanistan (pg. 47). Through Kaplan's associations the reader gains an in-depth look at Afghanistan through the people Kaplan consorts with.
By relating his stories through information about the Punjabi, Abdul Haq, Ahmed Shah Massoud, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Savik Shuster, Haja Baba and Gucci Muj the audience gains a complete understanding of the existing turmoil in Afghanistan and further insight into various aspects like religion and women. Through Abdul Haq, for example, the reader learns of the intestinal fortitude existing in Islamic warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan through Haq's courageous dealing of his amputated foot. Also, the reader learns of the increasing impertinence of Abdul Haq towards the United States.
For example, "Haq was convinced the US was trying to kill him," because they forced him to wait in the London airport for hours in excruciating pain due to Washington regulations, which stipulated that he must board only an American carrier (pg. 71). In addition, through Abdul Haq we learn that "Woman are as private to a Pathan as his private parts," depicting the extent to which women are secluded from society (pg. 50). An example concerning the importance of religion relates to Savik Shuster, a Lithuanian Jew and a former Soviet citizen. Shuster aggravates Haq when he claims to be agnostic causing Haq to exclaims, "Now you sound like a Soviet" (pg. 65). The above elements of US carelessness, women and religion signify the importance of Soldiers of God in relation to the growing interest in Afghanistan today. Kaplan's book conveys the significant details of the many facets and faces of Afghanistan life, which remain of vast interests since the events following September 11, 2001.
Robert D. Kaplan explanation for the purpose of Soldiers of God arises from his meticulous and realistic portrayal of the events he witnesses starting his prologue and finalizing through his later chapters, placing his reader in close proximity to understanding the book. Kaplan immediately captures his/her reader in the prologue entitled, "Walking Through a Minefield" and further enhances intrigue in the chapter entitled, "Going Up Khyber." By using pop culture and mostly Western references to Star Wars, Michael Jackson and Coca-Cola Kaplan allows his readers a more closer association with the book rather than isolating his audience to mainly factual and bland information. By relating his experiences through interwoven associations with various individuals Kaplan captures the essence of an Afghanistan, deeming Soldiers of God an essential book in understanding the richly historic country.
Zhaklin Ovsepyan

Kaplan, D. Robert, Solders of God (Vintage Books, New York, NY, November 2001). xxi+254. 1 map. Index. ISBN 1-4000-3025-0.
In his own personal account, Robert D. Kaplan, international affairs expert and war-time journalist, chronicles his journey with the mujahidin ' 'holy warriors' - through the forbidden and vicious landscape of Afghanistan. In Solders of God Kaplan attempts to unravel the sheer chaos of Afghanistan through an inter-personal level of analysis, first by gaining access to some of the most important tribal/resistance leaders, and then accompanying them on their Jihad ' or 'holy war' ' against the Soviet Union. Kaplan purposely uses his experience with the mujahidin to help explain the chain of events over the past 30 years which left the door open for the fanaticism of the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden.
In the 80's 'war-time' reporting was largely focused around the civil war in Lebanon or apartheid in South Africa. Rarely was their a first-hand report from the front lines of Afghanistan, which is what makes Kaplan's accounts of what some journalists call, the 'forgotten war', an invaluable tool in understanding present day international affairs.
During his time with the mujahidin, Kaplan details the lives of these mainly young, devote, and incredibly resistant solders who portray almost superhuman like qualities. As the Sherpas of Nepal have essentially evolved to conquer the highest of altitudes, the mujahidin of Afghanistan have evolved to become some of the world's best guerrilla fighters. Insidious and intolerant as the mujahidin might seem, Kaplan exposes a fissure between the modern day authoritarian Islam of the Arabic world and the more introverted democratic, and egalitarian Islam of the Afghani tribes, specifically the Pathans in the north. Kaplan finds that while they were fanatical, many Afghani Moslems were incredibly tolerant of 'non-believers' and women journalist (who many times felt safest with the mujahidin).
Some of the most shocking pieces of Kaplan's account shows the ferociousness, relentlessness, and brutality of the Soviet invasion. Kaplan describes how the miscalculated and misguided Soviet war of attrition has left the 'footprint' of war on Afghanistan to this very day. Riddled with Soviet landmines, Afghanistan has become a country of amputees, disabling a majority of an already diseased population.
Kaplan's relationship with renowned leaders such as Abdul Haq (Pathan leader; known as the 'Lion of Afghanistan'), Ahmad Shah Massoud (Tajik leader; known as the 'Panshir Lion'), and Hamid Karzi (current Afghan interim leader), allows the reader to better understand the incoherence and complexity of the ethnic and tribal codes that rule Afghani politics.
Because of his intimacy with the Mujahidin, one might criticize Kaplan for romanticizing the bravado and machismo of these Afghan guerrillas. However, rather than romanticize, Kaplan delivers a telling and respectful account of a people and a country 'orphaned by war'.
In Kaplan's final analysis he shifts focus to neighboring Pakistan where the majority of Afghani refugees reside. Combined with past support (financial and political) for the Taliban and a fevering wave of fundamental Islam, seen coming directly from the Saudi sponsored Madrassas (religious schools); an explosive cocktail of factionalism is predicted on the horizon. In a chilling conclusion Kaplan warns of potential Balkanization in Pakistan. However unlike Yugoslavia, Pakistan has a Nuclear Arsenal.

Scott Shadian

Colonel Carney and Ben Schemmer did an excellent job of describing the realities of U.S. contingencies in the last 40 years. As much as we try, the theory of the "purple suit" military and interoperability, i.e., all services working together, has not been achieved. The saving grace of this unfortunate situation is that our military forces usually demonstrate the flexibility to overcome these shortfalls and prevail. I commanded a rescue squadron which was tasked in an important support role for several of the operations that
Colonel Carney wrote of in this book and several that were not included. The Grenada mission was not the only one where we were unsure as to which command was really in charge. A well written book about a segment of the U.S.Air Force and our military forces which has not received the recognition and appreciation which they deserve. Colonel Carney is one of the Air Force's finest!

At first, this book seemed like one of those rah-rah "American soldiers make no mistakes and defeat every enemy" books, as the authors start their book by writing about the original development of special tactics forces.
But it soon developed that these authors offer a close-up and detailed, but relatively objective, perspective on a number of recent US military actions using special tactics units, including the Iranian hostage rescue attempt, Grenada, TWA 847 and the Achille Lauro, Panama/ Noriega, Desert Storm, Somalia, the planned Haiti invasion, and Afghanistan. The authors tell what went right, and what went wrong -- on the tactical, strategic, and political fronts. They don't pull the punches on how interservice rivalries, and poor planning and intelligence, caused a number of problems. A lot of depth is added to events that most of us are familiar with just from newspaper articles.
The authors also offer insight on the type of soldier who joins these units -- not Rambo types, or Tom Clancy "warrior" ethos heroes, but level-headed well-trained soldiers.
Anyone interested in recent history, politics, or military history would enjoy reading this well-written book.

Col. John T. Carney, USAF (ret.) takes the reader through his professional career and the history of U.S. Air Force special tactics units from the early 1980s through 2002.

Special Tactics, which has operated in most every American military action since Operation Eagle Claw (aka Desert One) in 1980, has its foundations in the Pathfinder units of WW2, and are often known as 'combat controllers.' They are often the first in and the last out.

In a frank and engaging manner, Carney lays out the history of special tactics and their operations, including Eagle Claw, Grenada, Panama, Achille Lauro, Desert Storm, and Somalia, through Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Given his firsthand involvement in the majority of these operations, Carney offers a unique perspective and pulls no punches in his assessment of Air Force and U.S. Special Operations. Nothing is glossed-over and the reader gets the sense that Carney bears more self-imposed crosses than he probably should.

If you are interested in a unique perspective of U.S. Special Operations and Air Force Special Tactics, this book should not be missed.

This book is a must to read from informational point of view.If you need to find information on tactics, uniforms, weapons,etc-this is the one.But,this not the one,if you want to understand what this war was about.About real soldiers,who actually had to fight in Afghanistan:18-20 years old kids,who was drafted. And without any choice was thrown to a forien contry to play a strange game of survival : the one , who kill first, will win another chance to play this game again...and again.All we wanted was simple- just to go home ... alive.I was lucky to see my home.But many of my friends didn,t.
If you want to reed that kind of story,you need to find another book!

This book is very interesting and filled with tactical detail. However, it is neither a strong history of the Soviet war in Afghanistan nor a strong analysis of Soviet performance in the war. Rather, it is a collection of studies of various engagements and operations during the war. These studies are very useful for those who already have a good knowledge of the war but are confusing for those who do not.

Let me first start off that this is not a quick easy read. It goes into VERY small detail about practically everything in the Soviet-Afghan War. However, some of the small things that the author goes over gets very boring very quick. When you read this book, it almost feels like a battle manual for the Soviet-Afghan War. However, when you get done reading the book, its probably the closest one person can come to understanding the war without actually being there. The drawings in the book are also very useful to help spell out what the author is saying. All in all, the book does not give an action/adventure story of the war, but when you comprehend it, you will have a firm understanding of what the war was like from an operational point of view

I was fortunate enough to see this performed in New York last year. This play unleashes great torrents of language and ideas at every turn and is the theatrical equivalent of a clusterbomb. Yet, with time to read and mull, it becomes something quite different.

Years of work and research are hung on the frame of a simple melodrama about a father and daughter searching in a strange country for a wife and mother. Kushner's mythical Afghanistan is a place where the tower of Babel toppled and people speak everything from Russian to Esperanto. The hapless British thrust into this burka'd world will never grasp that we in the west have "succumbed to luxury" -- though perhaps the audience will.

Some other reviewers found the Homebody's monologue dull on the page. I assure you it is quite stirring in performance. The same may be said of much of the play which, like Angels in America, is unwieldy but brilliant. Kushner has admitted in interviews that the play should be trimmed but I think, when reading the play, the overambitiousness is a plus. Kushner is a playwright with a social consciousness, but also a literary and poetic conscientiousness. The use of 'sunny' as an adjective recalls Sunni and the etymology of Quango's name is a play unto itself.

This play is 'about' too many things to effectively say what it is about. I appreciate it as a feast of language and a virtuoso display of Kushner's talent. While it may run long and fail to cohere thematically, it is shorter and more thematically coherent than Angels. What is a clusterbomb in the theater is chocolate cake when iced with covers.

Can you imagine a play that is awesome? I can, because I saw it last month at the Hillsboro community center for Arts Performance. It was Tony Kushners (no relation to Ashton : )) play called Homebody Kabul. What is good about it? The timeliness, and also how it relates to our situation in the Middle East and in Afghanistan and in Pakistan also right now. Of course, after I saw the play I immediately bought the book and then read the play in the book, and I was not disappointed--its Kushner's dramatic explication of important ideas that really made the characters "leap" off the page and into my imagination, not to mention how it made me think. I recommend this book to the socially-minded literati of today's generation X youth. Good? Yes it is. Also check out his other play, Angles in America.

Homebody's extended thought streams and speeches were wonderful. I would like to meet her, assuming she is not dead of course. This is the first play I have read by Tony Kushner and I have never been lucky enough to see any of his plays performed. I think he is a fascinating writer. I laughed, I learned, I was outraged, I nodded my head in agreement.

Tony Kushner was quoted and an excerpt was read from "Homebody/Kabul" at a local Not in Our Name event. His words and work resonate with the time.

Wow, what a scholarly survey of the Afghan civil war to include the Soviet occupation, the pursuit of power by the competing mujahadeen factions, and the rise of the Taliban. Goodson's tome provides the layman and the scholar a comprehensive account of the recent fighting in Afghanistan that offers a look into the unique nature of Afghanistan with regard to the deep ethno-linguistic cleavages.
The only negative I could see was that it was published about 10 months too early. The big question mark of the Taliban's future has been addressed to a large degree. I can't wait for an updated edition. I would recommend this book strongly to anyone that is curious about how things came to be in Afghanistan. A great companion book would be "Taliban" by Ahmed Rashid or "Fundametalism Reborn?" edited by Maley.

I just read Goodson's book and am very pleased. He gives a thorough analysis of the background to the current situation in Afghanistan and explains the existing dangers confronting the country and the region. Finished just before 9/11 the book does not lose any of its relevance.

The most cogent ideas I came away with where the horrifc devastation caused by the Soviet Union in its attempt to take over the country in the 1980s. The problem it has created for Pakistan being a host to the Afghan refugees and backing the Afghans in their war efforts against first the Russians and then the Northern Alliance. Lastly the number of bordering countries and their involvement in Paksitan.

This is an excellent analysis and makes one feel very sorry for the plight of this poor country caught in the middle of the cross hairs of major powers

Larry Goodson's Afghanistan's Endless War is a gem that shines with solid research and clear prose. This survey of Afghanistan's past will assist anyone who wishes to grasp how this central Asian country became the center of US foreign policy recently. Goodson briefly examines Afghanistan's early history when the country hosted part of the famous silk trade route that connected the occident with the orient. Another section details England and the Soviet Union's reasons for establishing hegemony in Central Asia. Goodson provides solid reasons why each nation's conquest failed in Afghanistan. Lastly, the author presents an overview of Afghanistan just prior to September Eleventh and offers, albeit somewhat dated, future scenarios.

Goodson's purpose is to show how various events within Afghanistan's borders along with foreign intervention have shaped this nation. He contends that "Afghanistan has a singular importance to the region it touches" and does influence its neighbors as well as other foreign nations. The text is filled with facts that support this thesis. In the chapter analyzing the Post-Cold War era, Goodson describes how Pakistan, United States, Russia, Iran, China and others are devoting resources in the quest to determine Afghanistan's future. However, steering Afghanistan's social and economic environment is extremely difficult due to long standing traditions and local laws of indigenous tribes such as the Pushtins, Hazaras, Farsiwans, and among others that are often incompatible with different tribes. According to Goodson, Afghanis are seldom steamrolled or permanently purchased into allying with foreign nations.

Most readers will want information about the inception of the Taliban movement. Goodson argues that the Taliban started when Pushtin Islamic religious students attempted to bring stability to post-communist Afghanistan. Originally funded by the Pakistan government, the Talibans piled up military successes and ended some of the lawlessness and chaos that pervaded Afghanistan. Foes of the Taliban lost military size and strength because of perpetual fighting and later formed a loose coalition of tribes called the Northern Alliance. Although the Taliban never truly gained official recognition as the legitimate government of the Afghanistan, private donations increased to further Taliban control. Additional aid came from "Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries," regional mafia, "heroin smugglers, Osama bin laden," and Unocal (Union Oil). The giant US oil company, Unocal, hoped to build a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan. Unocal gambled on the Taliban establishing stability to the region by defeating the Northern Alliance and oppressing the local population.

Goodson defends his thesis well throughout the text by showing how Afghanistan, a medieval country in the twenty-first century, is inextricably linked to the central Asian region and the rest of the globe. Equally convincing is Goodson's argument that Afghanistan suffers from weak state syndrome in a post-Cold War era. No longer are the two superpowers paying consistent attention to Afghanistan and smaller national powers intermittently commit resources that often perpetuate the imbroglio. Because Afghanistan must rely on outside and sporadic help, the nation fails to develop a strong central government that can "penetrate" local "society, regulate social relationships, extract resources, and ...use resources in determined ways."

One shortcoming of this book maybe, ironically, its attraction: the book is brief. Goodson glosses over some important topics. One example is when the CIA began training Afghanistan soldiers prior to the Soviet invasion. This event needed further explanation. Nevertheless, Goodson's Afghanistan's Endless War is a fitting place to begin comprehending the complexities of Afghanistan. This book is highly recommended

I really looked forward to the book that I finished in one setting. I was hoping based on the first chapter that she really was going to deliver the goods based on her knowledge and intimacy with the culture and its people. But alas it was not to be. Even though from western journalist standards it was much better effort. I think she could learn a lot more by reading Ayaz Amir and Irfan Hussain (dawn.com) about Pakistan instead of wasting hours talking to Benazir and others. I really wanted to get a grip on Musharraf and Benazir but she wastes her time on platitudes and makes Benazir and others looks more then they are ...A very hands off approach on Musharraf, Benazir and Zia alike. I guess she was trying her best not to offend anyone in case she ever wants to talk to them again. I could expect this from a novice journalist but not Ms. Weaver.
The rest of the book was bunch of newspaper stories stapled together and it had horrible flow--- you didn't know if these chapters are of the same book and no attempt was made to connect them. For example her chapter about Baluchistan and Arabs hunting had nothing to do whatsoever with current environment and she left everything about that in the Baluchistan 's wasteland 20 years back.
I really expected more then she gave. She also gave a short shrift to the US and Pakistan relationship and she doesn't give us any clues other then Gen. Zinny 's bit supporting his friend the general "w/o him Pakistan would turn in chaos" and other typical platitudes that western journalist have been known for when they are too lazy to get the real scoop. She also wastes her interviews w various leading Jehadi mullas and provides no insight then what you can get by driving around the compound or typically provided by a journalist sitting in a posh five star hotel from Islamabad... so alas a wasted effort from a very capable journalist. First Chapter is good but other chapters are just stapled together.
Please pass this on to that author I hope she reads it.

This book is the boldest attempt by Mary Anne to warn the world of the perils of ignoring the present situation in Pakistan.
The pakistani economy is in shambles and Islamic extremism is on rise. MMA is in power in 2 states close to Afganistan and helping the residual Taliban agents. They are also trying to enforce Shariah which will push us back. We in Pakistan are being offended everyday by every country and its representatives who come here. This is fueling the extremism and I am afraid that within a few years Pakistan will become afganistan.

I was realy offended when I read about the way Anthony Zinni gave Gen. Karamat a 10 minutes notice of the in-coming missiles fired by US warships.

The story of Musharaff pushing Pakistan into Kargil war and subsequent defeat of Pakistan is something every Pakistani will be ashamed of. It is also frustrating to know that Mary anne found no positive points such as Pakistan's REMARKABLE ROLE as US ally in War on Terror. Without Pakistani help it would have been very difficult to fight it out.

The sparkling essays that comprise this wonderful book seem unrelated yet all are intimately connected. This eyewitness account does more to explain the hell that bred al-Qaeda and other Islamist terrorists than do ponderous works by historians, theologians, and other outsiders. Beautifully written, Mary Anne Weaver's narrative is part Paul Theroux travelogue, part Truman Capote celebfest, and part Bernard Lewis study of the Middle East. Weaver enlightens and informs the reader on a human level that is sorely missing elsewhere.

Pakistan: In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan is subtle and powerful at the same time. A territorial leader fears his isolated province may erupt into violence. "The price of a bullet is one rupee; the price of an egg is two rupees," he explains to Weaver. Newly elected Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto asks to join Pakistan's president at prayers. He declines because she is a woman. The relationship between the two soon-to-be-ex-leaders couldn't be better explained. Pakistani wildlife authorities assist wealthy Arab sheihks in the decimation of the local houbarb bustard population. In an essay obstensibly about billionaires who roam the desert with falcons in Mercedes in search of their prey, it becomes apparent Saudi Arabia has gladly financed many unseemly aspects of Pakistani society. Kashmiris find themselves flooded with ISI-inspired Islamic nationalists although the people in that troubled province only want a multi-ethnic state, a native explains. The CIA supplies Osama bin Laden and the other mujahideen against the Soviets although there is a 30 to 50 percent "slippage" in arms. The word "slippage" seems more appropriate to clothing lost to shoplifters than to shoulder-held surface to air missiles that now menace commercial airlines.

Weaver covers the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan and chronicles the present day war against al-Qaeda. Both conflicts originated in Pakistan, fueled by indigenous Islamist hatred and funded by Saudi money (which raises the question, "with friends like these...."). Along the way Weaver meets the territorial leaders, mullahs, prime ministers, and everyday citizens who transform Pakistan from a bastion of nationalistic fervor into a state sponsor of religious terrorism (and perhaps the most dangerous nuclear power on the planet). How any American, let alone a woman, bagged as many interviews as Weaver did, and how she navigated some of the most dangerous territory in this misogynistic land, remains a mystery. Weaver acts as if her adventures in the darkest reaches of Pakistan were the most natural travels imaginable, and perhaps for her they were.

Her journeys certainly serve the reader well.

I highly recommend this book whether you want to enjoy some brilliant writing or learn more about Pakistan and terrorism. As Weaver demonstrates, the two don't have to be mutually exclusive.

In this book, John Lee Anderson provides a fairly insightful and educational narrative of his experiences inside Afghanistan after the 9-11 attacks. In it, you read of his encounters with various people inside Afghanistan, some colorful and tragic, others brutal and dangerous. The book serves as a nice backdrop of Afghanistan during the US war there, and the immediate consequences of it. However, it suffers from a few flaws that kept this from being a really good book.

The book is titled the Lions Grave as a reference to the grave of one of the most tragic figures in Afghanistan, Ahmed Shah Massoud, the Lion of the Panjshir. Several of the articles reference him, and his presence is felt almost constantly throughout the book, as it is in Afghanistan. Massoud was the charismatic leader of the Northern Alliance, the hodgepodge group of fighters opposing the Taliban. Just two days before the 9-11 attacks, two men sent by Osama Bin Laden managed to kill Massoud by dressing like reporters. This was in order to fracture the delicate alliance, to hamper any assault on the Taliban. Anderson points out how the man has become an almost religious figure, worshipped by millions of Afghanis. Anderson gives us a cursory look at the politics of the alliance, highlighting their disagreements and past atrocities. All throughout the book, you get a sense of the total devastation of the country, which has really fallen into the dark ages. I was surprised at how dangerous it was for the reporters sent to Afghanistan, as the countryside and the roads were patrolled regularly by all sorts of heavily armed brigands. One other interesting theme of the book was the educated class of Afghanistan that we usually do not hear about. It may come as a surprise to many readers, but Afghanistan was once a pretty civilized country. The remnants of this era survive in little hamlets of professional and academic men and women, desperate for a way out of the constant turmoil. I found that the most tragic part of the book.

There are a few reasons I did not really love this book. First, it is way too short and barely scratches the surface of the situation. Now I know this was not meant to be an in depth look at Afghanistan, this is just Anderson's story. Still, I felt like a lot more commentary was needed at certain parts, where themes are broached but never examined. Also, the book is full of interludes of real emails Anderson was sending back to his editors. At first, this is a clever and exciting way to track his movements on a day by day basis, but eventually it becomes tedious.

An average reporters book.

This is a very readable account of post-9/11 Afghanistan, and I finished it in the course of one day. I did notice, however, after reading this book and his current dispatches from Iraq, that the US itself is sort of an unseen factor in all of his work, implicit in the goings-on but not directly reported on. For example, during his time with the Northern Alliance, there is one description of a B-52 strafing a hillside and that is our one explicit clue that a massive campaign is occuring. Instead, we are graced with very intricate and impressive first-hand accounts of internal Afghani struggles, specifically concerning the assassination of Massoud. I think that Anderson's very noble intention is to prevent Afghanistan (and subsequently, Iraq) from becoming an abstract idea for Americans, by supplying readers here with details about life under siege. I would've enjoyed a bit more specific information about American operations and strategy, but I was not disappointed at all with what was provided in Anderson's account.

Full disclosure: While I do think Lion's Grave is a tremendous book, and provides a unique insight into the way journalists cover zones, I should also point out that I'm Jon Lee Anderson's younger brother. Rather than trying to pad his numbers, however, my main motive for writing is in amusement over Hilliard's comment that it seemed a bit Rambo-esque (i.e. unbelievable) that Jon Lee would give a tongue-lashing to a group of heavily-armed 20 year olds. After having traveled through five war zones with Jon Lee over the years, I can assure you that this is exactly the sort of thing he does do! Ill-advised, perhaps, but not hubris - and certainly not Ramboesque.

The Road to Oxiana was popular when it was first issued, but gradually dropped out of sight, only to be revived when Bruce Chatwin and others rediscovered it. Chatwin in particular was heavily influenced by this book. It is the story of Robert Byron's efforts to see large brick burial towers located in Persia. Or at least that it was what Byron said he was looking for. The book is more a depiction of his misadventures -- he was suspected of being a spy by most who met him, although there was no truth to this. The style of this book is highly innovative; rather than presenting a straight narrative, it is (or appears to be) a collection of diary entries, newspaper stories, anecdotes, and cultural analysis. This makes the book sound themeless, but Byron's personality holds it together. This book should be on a short list of the best travel books in the English language.

I first read Byron's best travel book in 1982 whilst in the midst of an epic year long trip myself. I now have about 4 copies of the book and an original signed copy with Byron's pictures in it(which are equally brilliant as his prose).His book kindled in me a desire to see all that he had seen and to further explore Islamic architecture and archaeology. After numerous forays into the Near East and a Masters in Near Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures--I am still searching. One can't really appreciate Byron's description of the Sheikh Lutfallah Mosque in Isfahan unless you actually have been there--standing under the immense dome in subdued yellow light. I had that priviledge last year and Byron's description does justice to the magnificent structure. Byron's eye for detail is unmatched in most other travel books and his humour is endless. I had the luck to find "Four Loyalties" by his travelling companion--Christopher Sykes in a book sale in Dubai, UAE. Sykes paints a wonderful portrait of Byron. It's a pity that Byron died so young as I think he is one of the better travel writers--definitely my favourite. Unfortunately, as Bruce Chatwin pointed out in one introduction to "The Road to Oxiana" that you won't be able to drink green tea and eat mulberries under the shade of a plane tree in Istalif, Afghanistan. Those halcyon days that Byron and Sykes experienced and later by Levi and Chatwin are the stuff of legends. "The Road to Oxiana" is a good starting point. Go there now. Good reading.

In the crepuscular post-September 11 world I find myself in, I thought I would go and read some of the classics of travel in the Middle East back when the going was good. Byron's OXIANA looked promising, so I curled up with it for a few enchanting days.

Byron was no lover of pre-packaged tourist sights. He begins by slurring Venice, where he begins his journey. Later, he slams the Taj Mahal and the Alhambra as examples of what he did NOT want to see in the Middle East. At first, I was not sure where the book was going: Byron comes across at first as one of those hypereducated upper class twits who pop in and out of Evelyn Waugh's novels. Fortunately, it turns out to be just one of the author's favorite personas he assumes from time to time.

Over half a century ago, he saw clearly what would happen to Palestine when the British pulled out, namely, that the Jews and Arabs would be at each other's throats. As he reaches Iran we finally begin to see what Byron is really after: He travels from one old mosque or ruin to another. Although none of places he describes in such loving detail are known to me, it was easy to see that here was a man who wanted to be one of the first to see some marvel of architecture and capture it in photographs and in prose before the forces of time would destroy it utterly.

In the process of going from place to place, he describes the Europeans and locals he meets with humor and shrewdness. The Middle East was not the easiest place to travel in the 1930s, and Byron ran into some almost insurmountable obstacles which he typically surmounts. One such is his arrival in Aghanistan's high country too late in the season. He backtracks to Persia and waits six months until he could return in the spring.

I highly recommend ROAD TO OXIANA to all who wish the world was safe and innocent enough for us to pursue our own Oxianas, wherever they may be.