An urgent, on-the-ground report from Pakistan–from the bestselling author of “Descent” “Into Chaos” and “Taliban” Ahmed Rashid, one of the world’s leading experts on the social and political situations in Pakistan and Afghanistan, offers a highly anticipated update on the possibilities–and hazards–facing the United States after the death of Osama bin Laden and as Operation Enduring Freedom winds down.
With the characteristic professionalism that has made him the preeminent independent journalist in Pakistan for three decades, Rashid asks the important questions and delivers informed insights about the future of U.S. relations with the troubled region. His most urgent book to date, “Pakistan on the Brink” is the third volume in a comprehensive series that is a call to action to our nation’s leaders and an exposition of this conflict’s impact on the security of the world.
What are the possibilities? and hazards? facing America as it withdraws from Afghanistan and as it reviews its long engagement in Pakistan? Where is the Taliban now in both these countries? What does the immediate future hold and what are America’s choices as President Obama considers our complicated history and faces reelection?
These are some of the crucial questions that Ahmed Rashid? Pakistan’s preeminent journalist? takes on in this follow-up to his acclaimed Descent into Chaos. Rashid correctly predicted that the Iraq war would have to be refocused into Afghanistan and that Pakistan would emerge as the leading player through which American interests and actions would have to be directed.
The author focuses on the long-term problems? the changing casts of characters, the future of international terrorism, and the actual policies and strategies both within Pakistan and Afghanistan and among the Western allies? as the world tries to bring some stability to a fractured region saddled with a legacy of violence and corruption.
The decisions made by America and the West will affect the security and safety of the world. And as he has done so well in the past, Rashid offers sensible solutions and provides a way forward for all three countries.
Praise for the narrator on Descent Into Chaos “Arthur Morey’s narration is succinct, measured, and sharp…[his] rapid delivery of complex sentences and ideas maintains a journalist’s distance from the litany of incredible historical facts… [and his] voice allows the listener to absorb the staggering scope of information presented…”