Reaping the Whirlwind: The Taliban Movement in Afghanistan [Hardcover]

Michael Griffin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0745312748 | ISBN-13: 978-0745312743 | Publication Date: May 2001

Afghanistan has historically fulfilled the role of an artificial "buffer state". In recent years, and particularly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has become the geopolitical playground of various regional interests - the Saudis, the Russians, the Pakistanis and the Americans. Resource rich and strategically important, Afghanistan's unstable and problematic history has been further complicated in recent years by the emergence of the mysterious Taliban - one of the most conservative and least understood Islamic movements in the world. This book provides an account of the background to the ongoing conflict in the area, and a profile of the Taliban movement itself - its origins and beliefs, its religious and political ethos, the character of its particular brand of so-called Islamic fundamentalism and the nature of its international links.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Investigative reporter Griffin, news editor for the Index on Censorship, approaches recent Afghan history through local and international news reports in an effort to understand who the Taliban are and how they see their role in Afghanistan and in the Islamic world. And, because Afghanistan has long figured importantly in other countries' strategies, Griffin explores the roles of the U.S., Russia and other states of the former USSR, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, and China in Afghanistan's continuing unrest. Griffin's narrative covers five years, from the Taliban's initial appearance in the southern city of Kandahar in 1994 through the 1999 military coup in Pakistan. The focus of his study is the Taliban, but that movement's rise cannot be explained without analyzing its context, including the cultural changes Soviet-supported Afghan governments attempted to impose and the corrupt quasi governments established by ex-mujahedin warlords in much of the country after the Soviets left. Those who consider central Asia a vital region and judge the Taliban's brand of fundamentalism a significant (and perhaps threatening) political force will appreciate Griffin's thoroughness. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

'Michael Griffin has reached a better understanding of the Taliban in his book than I have come across anywhere else. This is a highly intelligent account of one of the most interesting and disturbing political movements in the world, and is essential reading to anyone who wishes to understand its nature.' John Simpson, BBC 'Michael Griffin has done us a great service with his book, teasing out the nuances of political, religious, and ethnic strife in Afghanistan -- a country that is both hidden and of immense importance to the Post-Cold War world. He shows us the blundering interventions of international players, ranging from greedy American and Argentine oil companies, to self-serving Iranian and Pakistani politicians. He provides a unique inside account of the agonizing choices faced by United Nations agencies -- a devil's dilemma between lending tacit support to the Taliban's brutal war against women's rights, and withholding relief supplies for suffering Afghani civilians. This book is crucial, not just for regional specialists, but for anyone who wants to understand the limitations of foreign policy in the growing number of violently sectarian strongholds in the world. ' Anne Nelson, Director, International Program, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism 'It's a great pleasure to have Michael Griffin's excellent book on the subject, which guides us through these tangles with lucidity and great understanding. It is level-headed and plausible in an area which is always going to be filled with the maddest sort of conspiracy theories, and, best of all, seeks to understand and even sympathise with the Taliban's aims - something much more difficult than just complaining about them. Everyone knows how terrible the regime is; anyone could just reproduce a list of outrages committed on innocent men and women by the religious police. What takes skill and intelligence, what will prove of some more substantial use and virtue, is an attempt to explain why, exactly, this situation arose, and why you consider the 'students' as madmen at your own peril.' Philip Hensher, The Spectator 'Reaping the Whirlwind provides the first comprehensive profile of the Taliban in the 21st century. Drawing on numerous interviews with key protagonists, conducted over a period of several years, Michael Griffin provides a fascinating eye-witness account of the Afghan conflict.' Middle East Magazine 'Michael Griffin's book looks at the ability of US policymakers to turn disaster into catastrophe - nowhere better illustrated than Afghanistan. It's now five years since the Taliban took over Kabul, after a decade of conflict that left 1.5 million dead and one third of the population in exile.' Labour Left Briefing 'So who and what are the Taliban, and where did they come from? Griffin supplies a well-argued answer to these questions ... Reaping the Whirlwind is essential reading for anyone interested in the politics of the region, refreshingly free from any preconceived ideology. I would also recommend the book to those who consider that a dialogue between East and West will mark the coming decades, and those seeking to understand a fundamentalism that is increasingly apparent in other faiths.' The Tablet 'It is this complicated story ... the rise of the warlords and their subsequent vanquishing by the Taliban ... that Michael Griffin describes in his splendid book.' The New Statesman 'We would recommend this book to anyone seeking the truth about what has happened in Afghanistan.' Socialist Appeal 'Reaping the Whirlwind is an intelligent, often colourfully written account of one of today's most feared and poorly understood organisations.' Ham & High 'Michael Griffin has produced a detailed and heavily reserached book which meticulously charts all the different Afghanistan factions, their relationships, thier victories and defeats ... Reaping the Whirlwind is well worth reading.' Marxist Review 'The book is densely packed ... Those interested in an interpretation of the complexity of the movement will not be disappointed.' Global Review of Ethnopolitics 'A fascinating exploration of the rise of the Taliban movement.' Outlook 'Michael Griffin has written a book for our times. It bulges with facts that are elegantly inscribed in an analysis that is actute and imaginative.' India Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Pluto Press (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745312748
• ISBN-13: 978-0745312743
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,557,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An endorsement from the BBC's correspondent John Simpson:, July 23, 2001

By 

John Simpson (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reaping the Whirlwind: The Taliban Movement in Afghanistan (Hardcover)

Michael Griffin has reached a better understanding of the Taliban in his book than I have come across anywhere else. This is a highly intelligent account of one of the most interesting and disturbing political movements in the world, and is essential reading to anyone who wishes to understand its nature.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Praise for Reaping the Whirlwind:, July 23, 2001

By 

John Simpson (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reaping the Whirlwind: The Taliban Movement in Afghanistan (Hardcover)

Michael Griffin has done us a great service with his book, teasing out the nuances of political, religious, and ethnic strife in Afghanistan -- a country that is both hidden and of immense importance to the Post-Cold War world. He shows us the blundering interventions of international players, ranging from greedy American and Argentine oil companies, to self-serving Iranian and Pakistani politicians. He provides a unique inside account of the agonizing choices faced by United Nations agencies -- a devil's dilemma between lending tacit support to the Taliban's brutal war against women's rights, and withholding relief supplies for suffering Afghani civilians. This book is crucial, not just for regional specialists, but for anyone who wants to understand the limitations of foreign policy in the growing number of violently sectarian strongholds in the world.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some good stuff on Afghanistan, November 29, 2001

By 

Chris (Washington state, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reaping the Whirlwind: The Taliban Movement in Afghanistan (Hardcover)

There is some good stuff in this book about America's new friends in the war for freedom and against terrorism, the Northern Alliance. I've noticed recently some commentators saying that the Northern Alliance leaders had nothing to do with the massive bloodshed in Afghanistan from 1992-96 and that was all the fault of Gullubdin Heckmatyar. Well, according to this book Heckmatyar's organization received through Pakistan about half of all the money funnled by the West and the reactionary Arab regimes into the Jihad against the Soviet Union in the 80's. He the guy wholikes to throw acid in women's faces who don't wear the burkha and has been involved in the drug trade, though his influence has been reduced dramatically in the past few years. After the communist government was overthrown in April 1992, Heckmatyar began massively bombarding civillians in Kabul. President Rabbani made him prime minister of his government in mid-93 but he took to bombarding Kabul again on Janary 1st 1994 along with general Rashid Dostum and the Shiite group Hizb-i-Wahdat, two of the prominent members of the current Northern Alliance. The Taliban drove them away in February 1995 shortly before they began their own massive bombardment of Kabul. In May 1996 Rabbani, who recently reinstalled himself in Kabul, once again made Heckmatyar prime minister and bans on certain forms of entertainment were introduced, as well as Sharia law and Islamic dress code and so on.

Other mass killings are described in this book like those by like the current northern alliance forces of Ahmad Massoud's army in the Shia Hazarajat and Abdul Malik, whose forces defected from Dostum's government to allow the Taliban to capture Mazar-i-Sharif in May 1997 but almost immediately turned against the Taliban and conducted a Saddam Hussein-like massacre of Taliban prisoners of war and it seems, thousands of civillians.

Of course it is hard to reach the utter barbarism of the Taliban. There is no need to repeat the horrific details. They emerged as a group friends in Kandahar province in late 94' who gained noteriety for fierce piety and honesty in contrast to the former Mujahadeen warlords whose forces were running around looting and raping and killing everybody. The U.S. clearly hoped that the efforts of Unocal to make arrangements with the Taliban leaders for a trans-Afghanistan oil pipeline from Turkmenistan would succeed. The dictator of Turkmenistan had switched allegiances from Bridas of Argentina to Unocal. After the whole thing blew up and they were left with a regime that was sheltering Osama Bin Laden, the monster that the Reagan adminstration helped create in the 80's, and serving as a conduit for drug smugglers (The Northern Alliance people are very heavy into that business also though Griffin does not say this).

Al Quaida is a very decentralized organization. Bin Laden may not have known about Sept 11. The evidence presented for his involvement by the British government has been rather thin. Griffin says that the evidence for him being involved in the attacks on the U.S. embassies in August 1998 and his relationship to the Al Shifa medicine plant in the Sudan which Clinton blew up is very tenuous. (...)

The prose style in this book is in parts really leaden. One gets the feeling that the book as a whole was not edited very well.