Author: Tom Young
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101443200
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 207
Book Description
From the author of The Hunters and Sand and Fire..."Fans of Clancy, Coonts, and Dale Brown need to add Young to their must-read lists." (Booklist) A transport plane carrying a high-ranking Taliban prisoner is shot down in a blizzard over Afghanistan's mountainous Hindu Kush. The storm makes rescue impossible, and for two people-navigator Michael Parson and a female Army interpreter, Sergeant Gold-a battle for survival begins against not only the hazards of nature, but the treacheries of man: the Taliban stalking them, the villagers whose loyalties are unknown, and a prisoner who would very much like the three of them to be caught. "One of the most exciting new thriller talents in years."--Vince Flynn
The Mullah's Storm
Author: Tom Young
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101443200
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 207
Book Description
From the author of The Hunters and Sand and Fire..."Fans of Clancy, Coonts, and Dale Brown need to add Young to their must-read lists." (Booklist) A transport plane carrying a high-ranking Taliban prisoner is shot down in a blizzard over Afghanistan's mountainous Hindu Kush. The storm makes rescue impossible, and for two people-navigator Michael Parson and a female Army interpreter, Sergeant Gold-a battle for survival begins against not only the hazards of nature, but the treacheries of man: the Taliban stalking them, the villagers whose loyalties are unknown, and a prisoner who would very much like the three of them to be caught. "One of the most exciting new thriller talents in years."--Vince Flynn
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101443200
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 207
Book Description
From the author of The Hunters and Sand and Fire..."Fans of Clancy, Coonts, and Dale Brown need to add Young to their must-read lists." (Booklist) A transport plane carrying a high-ranking Taliban prisoner is shot down in a blizzard over Afghanistan's mountainous Hindu Kush. The storm makes rescue impossible, and for two people-navigator Michael Parson and a female Army interpreter, Sergeant Gold-a battle for survival begins against not only the hazards of nature, but the treacheries of man: the Taliban stalking them, the villagers whose loyalties are unknown, and a prisoner who would very much like the three of them to be caught. "One of the most exciting new thriller talents in years."--Vince Flynn
Pakistan
Author: Husain Haqqani
Publisher: Carnegie Endowment
ISBN: 0870032852
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 413
Book Description
Among U.S. allies in the war against terrorism, Pakistan cannot be easily characterized as either friend or foe. Nuclear-armed Pakistan is an important center of radical Islamic ideas and groups. Since 9/11, the selective cooperation of president General Pervez Musharraf in sharing intelligence with the United States and apprehending al Qaeda members has led to the assumption that Pakistan might be ready to give up its longstanding ties with radical Islam. But Pakistan's status as an Islamic ideological state is closely linked with the Pakistani elite's worldview and the praetorian ambitions of its military. This book analyzes the origins of the relationships between Islamist groups and Pakistan's military, and explores the nation's quest for identity and security. Tracing how the military has sought U.S. support by making itself useful for concerns of the moment—while continuing to strengthen the mosque-military alliance within Pakistan—Haqqani offers an alternative view of political developments since the country's independence in 1947.
Publisher: Carnegie Endowment
ISBN: 0870032852
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 413
Book Description
Among U.S. allies in the war against terrorism, Pakistan cannot be easily characterized as either friend or foe. Nuclear-armed Pakistan is an important center of radical Islamic ideas and groups. Since 9/11, the selective cooperation of president General Pervez Musharraf in sharing intelligence with the United States and apprehending al Qaeda members has led to the assumption that Pakistan might be ready to give up its longstanding ties with radical Islam. But Pakistan's status as an Islamic ideological state is closely linked with the Pakistani elite's worldview and the praetorian ambitions of its military. This book analyzes the origins of the relationships between Islamist groups and Pakistan's military, and explores the nation's quest for identity and security. Tracing how the military has sought U.S. support by making itself useful for concerns of the moment—while continuing to strengthen the mosque-military alliance within Pakistan—Haqqani offers an alternative view of political developments since the country's independence in 1947.
Zeitgeist
Author: Bruce Sterling
Publisher: Spectra
ISBN: 0307796795
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 327
Book Description
It’s 1999, and in the Turkish half of Cyprus, the ever-enterprising Leggy Starlitz has alighted — pausing on his mission to storm the Third World with the G-7 girls, the cheapest, phoniest all-girl rock group ever to wear Wonderbras and spandex. His market is staring him in the face: millions of teenagers trapped in a world of mullahs and mosques, all ready to blow their pocket change on G-7’s massive merchandising campaign — and to wildly anticipate music the band will never release. Leggy’s brilliant plan means doing business with some of the world’s most dangerous people. Among these thieves, schemers, and killers, he must act quickly and decisively. Y2K is just around the corner — and the only rule to live by is that the whole scheme stops before the year 2000. But Leggy’s G-7 Zeitgeist is in serious jeopardy, for in Istanbul his former partners are getting restless — and the G-7 girls are beginning to die.... From the Paperback edition.
Publisher: Spectra
ISBN: 0307796795
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 327
Book Description
It’s 1999, and in the Turkish half of Cyprus, the ever-enterprising Leggy Starlitz has alighted — pausing on his mission to storm the Third World with the G-7 girls, the cheapest, phoniest all-girl rock group ever to wear Wonderbras and spandex. His market is staring him in the face: millions of teenagers trapped in a world of mullahs and mosques, all ready to blow their pocket change on G-7’s massive merchandising campaign — and to wildly anticipate music the band will never release. Leggy’s brilliant plan means doing business with some of the world’s most dangerous people. Among these thieves, schemers, and killers, he must act quickly and decisively. Y2K is just around the corner — and the only rule to live by is that the whole scheme stops before the year 2000. But Leggy’s G-7 Zeitgeist is in serious jeopardy, for in Istanbul his former partners are getting restless — and the G-7 girls are beginning to die.... From the Paperback edition.
Zahra's Paradise
Author: Amir
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1596436425
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 271
Book Description
Set in the aftermath of Iran's fraudulent elections of 2009, Zahra's Paradise is the fictional graphic novel of the search for Mehdi, a young protestor who has vanished into an extrajudicial twilight zone.
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1596436425
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 271
Book Description
Set in the aftermath of Iran's fraudulent elections of 2009, Zahra's Paradise is the fictional graphic novel of the search for Mehdi, a young protestor who has vanished into an extrajudicial twilight zone.
Silent Enemy
Author: Tom Young
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
ISBN: 0425250288
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
When the Afghan National Police training center in Kabul is attacked by jihadists, Major Michael Parson accompanies wounded soldiers on planes bound for Germany only to discover that several of the planes have been sabotaged.
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
ISBN: 0425250288
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
When the Afghan National Police training center in Kabul is attacked by jihadists, Major Michael Parson accompanies wounded soldiers on planes bound for Germany only to discover that several of the planes have been sabotaged.
A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea
Author: Dina Nayeri
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 110160199X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 429
Book Description
From the author of Refuge, a magical novel about a young Iranian woman lifted from grief by her powerful imagination and love of Western culture. Growing up in a small rice-farming village in 1980s Iran, eleven-year-old Saba Hafezi and her twin sister, Mahtab, are captivated by America. They keep lists of English words and collect illegal Life magazines, television shows, and rock music. So when her mother and sister disappear, leaving Saba and her father alone in Iran, Saba is certain that they have moved to America without her. But her parents have taught her that “all fate is written in the blood,” and that twins will live the same life, even if separated by land and sea. As she grows up in the warmth and community of her local village, falls in and out of love, and struggles with the limited possibilities in post-revolutionary Iran, Saba envisions that there is another way for her story to unfold. Somewhere, it must be that her sister is living the Western version of this life. And where Saba’s world has all the grit and brutality of real life under the new Islamic regime, her sister’s experience gives her a freedom and control that Saba can only dream of. Filled with a colorful cast of characters and presented in a bewitching voice that mingles the rhythms of Eastern storytelling with modern Western prose, A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea is a tale about memory and the importance of controlling one’s own fate.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 110160199X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 429
Book Description
From the author of Refuge, a magical novel about a young Iranian woman lifted from grief by her powerful imagination and love of Western culture. Growing up in a small rice-farming village in 1980s Iran, eleven-year-old Saba Hafezi and her twin sister, Mahtab, are captivated by America. They keep lists of English words and collect illegal Life magazines, television shows, and rock music. So when her mother and sister disappear, leaving Saba and her father alone in Iran, Saba is certain that they have moved to America without her. But her parents have taught her that “all fate is written in the blood,” and that twins will live the same life, even if separated by land and sea. As she grows up in the warmth and community of her local village, falls in and out of love, and struggles with the limited possibilities in post-revolutionary Iran, Saba envisions that there is another way for her story to unfold. Somewhere, it must be that her sister is living the Western version of this life. And where Saba’s world has all the grit and brutality of real life under the new Islamic regime, her sister’s experience gives her a freedom and control that Saba can only dream of. Filled with a colorful cast of characters and presented in a bewitching voice that mingles the rhythms of Eastern storytelling with modern Western prose, A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea is a tale about memory and the importance of controlling one’s own fate.
My Life with the Taliban
Author: Abdul Salam Zaeef
Publisher: Hurst
ISBN: 1849044457
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 382
Book Description
This is the autobiography of Abdul Salam Zaeef, a senior former member of the Taliban. His memoirs, translated from Pashto, are more than just a personal account of his extraordinary life. My Life with the Taliban offers a counter-narrative to the standard accounts of Afghanistan since 1979. Zaeef describes growing up in rural poverty in Kandahar province. Both of his parents died at an early age, and the Russian invasion of 1979 forced him to flee to Pakistan. He started fighting the jihad in 1983, during which time he was associated with many major figures in the anti-Soviet resistance, including the current Taliban head Mullah Mohammad Omar. After the war Zaeef returned to a quiet life in a small village in Kandahar, but chaos soon overwhelmed Afghanistan as factional fighting erupted after the Russians pulled out. Disgusted by the lawlessness that ensued, Zaeef was one among the former mujahidin who were closely involved in the discussions that led to the emergence of the Taliban, in 1994. Zaeef then details his Taliban career as civil servant and minister who negotiated with foreign oil companies as well as with Afghanistan's own resistance leader, Ahmed Shah Massoud. Zaeef was ambassador to Pakistan at the time of the 9/11 attacks, and his account discusses the strange "phoney war" period before the US-led intervention toppled the Taliban. In early 2002 Zaeef was handed over to American forces in Pakistan, notwithstanding his diplomatic status, and spent four and a half years in prison (including several years in Guantanamo) before being released without having been tried or charged with any offence. My Life with the Taliban offers a personal and privileged insight into the rural Pashtun village communities that are the Taliban's bedrock. It helps to explain what drives men like Zaeef to take up arms against the foreigners who are foolish enough to invade his homeland.
Publisher: Hurst
ISBN: 1849044457
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 382
Book Description
This is the autobiography of Abdul Salam Zaeef, a senior former member of the Taliban. His memoirs, translated from Pashto, are more than just a personal account of his extraordinary life. My Life with the Taliban offers a counter-narrative to the standard accounts of Afghanistan since 1979. Zaeef describes growing up in rural poverty in Kandahar province. Both of his parents died at an early age, and the Russian invasion of 1979 forced him to flee to Pakistan. He started fighting the jihad in 1983, during which time he was associated with many major figures in the anti-Soviet resistance, including the current Taliban head Mullah Mohammad Omar. After the war Zaeef returned to a quiet life in a small village in Kandahar, but chaos soon overwhelmed Afghanistan as factional fighting erupted after the Russians pulled out. Disgusted by the lawlessness that ensued, Zaeef was one among the former mujahidin who were closely involved in the discussions that led to the emergence of the Taliban, in 1994. Zaeef then details his Taliban career as civil servant and minister who negotiated with foreign oil companies as well as with Afghanistan's own resistance leader, Ahmed Shah Massoud. Zaeef was ambassador to Pakistan at the time of the 9/11 attacks, and his account discusses the strange "phoney war" period before the US-led intervention toppled the Taliban. In early 2002 Zaeef was handed over to American forces in Pakistan, notwithstanding his diplomatic status, and spent four and a half years in prison (including several years in Guantanamo) before being released without having been tried or charged with any offence. My Life with the Taliban offers a personal and privileged insight into the rural Pashtun village communities that are the Taliban's bedrock. It helps to explain what drives men like Zaeef to take up arms against the foreigners who are foolish enough to invade his homeland.
The Comrades and the Mullahs
Author: Stanly Johny
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9354895441
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
The withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan has left a lasting impact on both Afghanistan's future and on Asian geopolitics. It has also brought China into focus. This book traces the emergence of China as a key player in Afghanistan and the evolution of China's Afghan policy especially with respect to its relations with the Taliban. Beijing's dominant role in Afghanistan's future is a potentially game-changing development in Asian geopolitics, even if questions remain about the former's appetite to step in to fill the void and the limits of its ambitions. In The Comrades and the Mullahs, Ananth Krishnan and Stanly Johny examine what Beijing's interests are and the drivers of its foreign policy, and, more specifically, how its new Silk Road project-the Belt and Road Initiative-is shaping China-Afghan relations. They look at how Afghanistan has emerged as a key point on the corridor heading west from Xinjiang, and discuss the Xinjiang factor, drawing on their travels to China's western frontiers, as well as the internal dynamics that are pushing Beijing's westward march. Another factor is the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and the terror groups that are leading to an increasingly securitized approach to China's western regions and beyond, including possible Chinese plans to deploy special forces along the China-Afghan border areas in the Wakhan corridor and Badakhshan region. China's Afghan engagement has also deepened its 'all-weather' alliance with Pakistan-with Beijing increasingly leaning on Islamabad, particularly in its outreach to the Taliban and other elements in Afghanistan that have long been supported by the Pakistani state-and is a perennial source of tension between Islamabad and Kabul. The authors show how this increasing closeness is alarming for India, and might have far-reaching consequences, especially in Kashmir.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9354895441
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
The withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan has left a lasting impact on both Afghanistan's future and on Asian geopolitics. It has also brought China into focus. This book traces the emergence of China as a key player in Afghanistan and the evolution of China's Afghan policy especially with respect to its relations with the Taliban. Beijing's dominant role in Afghanistan's future is a potentially game-changing development in Asian geopolitics, even if questions remain about the former's appetite to step in to fill the void and the limits of its ambitions. In The Comrades and the Mullahs, Ananth Krishnan and Stanly Johny examine what Beijing's interests are and the drivers of its foreign policy, and, more specifically, how its new Silk Road project-the Belt and Road Initiative-is shaping China-Afghan relations. They look at how Afghanistan has emerged as a key point on the corridor heading west from Xinjiang, and discuss the Xinjiang factor, drawing on their travels to China's western frontiers, as well as the internal dynamics that are pushing Beijing's westward march. Another factor is the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and the terror groups that are leading to an increasingly securitized approach to China's western regions and beyond, including possible Chinese plans to deploy special forces along the China-Afghan border areas in the Wakhan corridor and Badakhshan region. China's Afghan engagement has also deepened its 'all-weather' alliance with Pakistan-with Beijing increasingly leaning on Islamabad, particularly in its outreach to the Taliban and other elements in Afghanistan that have long been supported by the Pakistani state-and is a perennial source of tension between Islamabad and Kabul. The authors show how this increasing closeness is alarming for India, and might have far-reaching consequences, especially in Kashmir.
Fundamentalism
Author: Malise Ruthven
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191647225
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 231
Book Description
Since the end of the Cold War fundamentalism has been seen as the major threat to world peace and prosperity, a concern that was exacerbated by the events of 9/11, and the 'War against Terrorism'. But what does 'fundamentalism' really mean? Since it was coined by American Protestant evangelicals in the 1920s, the word has expanded its meaning to include radical conservatives or ideological purists in many spheres of activity, not all of them religious. Modern applications of fundamentalism include Islamist radicals in the Muslim world, the militant Israeli settlers who oppose them as well as Sikh, Hindu and even Buddhist nationalists who seek to justify their political agendas by reference to divine edicts or religious tradition. This exciting new book tackles the polemic and stereotypes surrounding this fascinating subject.
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191647225
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 231
Book Description
Since the end of the Cold War fundamentalism has been seen as the major threat to world peace and prosperity, a concern that was exacerbated by the events of 9/11, and the 'War against Terrorism'. But what does 'fundamentalism' really mean? Since it was coined by American Protestant evangelicals in the 1920s, the word has expanded its meaning to include radical conservatives or ideological purists in many spheres of activity, not all of them religious. Modern applications of fundamentalism include Islamist radicals in the Muslim world, the militant Israeli settlers who oppose them as well as Sikh, Hindu and even Buddhist nationalists who seek to justify their political agendas by reference to divine edicts or religious tradition. This exciting new book tackles the polemic and stereotypes surrounding this fascinating subject.
The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran
Author: Charles Kurzman
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674039834
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 318
Book Description
The shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, would remain on the throne for the foreseeable future: This was the firm conclusion of a top-secret CIA analysis issued in October 1978. One hundred days later the shah--despite his massive military, fearsome security police, and superpower support was overthrown by a popular and largely peaceful revolution. But the CIA was not alone in its myopia, as Charles Kurzman reveals in this penetrating work; Iranians themselves, except for a tiny minority, considered a revolution inconceivable until it actually occurred. Revisiting the circumstances surrounding the fall of the shah, Kurzman offers rare insight into the nature and evolution of the Iranian revolution and into the ultimate unpredictability of protest movements in general. As one Iranian recalls, The future was up in the air. Through interviews and eyewitness accounts, declassified security documents and underground pamphlets, Kurzman documents the overwhelming sense of confusion that gripped pre-revolutionary Iran, and that characterizes major protest movements. His book provides a striking picture of the chaotic conditions under which Iranians acted, participating in protest only when they expected others to do so too, the process approaching critical mass in unforeseen and unforeseeable ways. Only when large numbers of Iranians began to think the unthinkable, in the words of the U.S. ambassador, did revolutionary expectations become a self-fulfilling prophecy. A corrective to 20-20 hindsight, this book reveals shortcomings of analyses that make the Iranian revolution or any major protest movement seem inevitable in retrospect.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674039834
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 318
Book Description
The shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, would remain on the throne for the foreseeable future: This was the firm conclusion of a top-secret CIA analysis issued in October 1978. One hundred days later the shah--despite his massive military, fearsome security police, and superpower support was overthrown by a popular and largely peaceful revolution. But the CIA was not alone in its myopia, as Charles Kurzman reveals in this penetrating work; Iranians themselves, except for a tiny minority, considered a revolution inconceivable until it actually occurred. Revisiting the circumstances surrounding the fall of the shah, Kurzman offers rare insight into the nature and evolution of the Iranian revolution and into the ultimate unpredictability of protest movements in general. As one Iranian recalls, The future was up in the air. Through interviews and eyewitness accounts, declassified security documents and underground pamphlets, Kurzman documents the overwhelming sense of confusion that gripped pre-revolutionary Iran, and that characterizes major protest movements. His book provides a striking picture of the chaotic conditions under which Iranians acted, participating in protest only when they expected others to do so too, the process approaching critical mass in unforeseen and unforeseeable ways. Only when large numbers of Iranians began to think the unthinkable, in the words of the U.S. ambassador, did revolutionary expectations become a self-fulfilling prophecy. A corrective to 20-20 hindsight, this book reveals shortcomings of analyses that make the Iranian revolution or any major protest movement seem inevitable in retrospect.