Rashid is successful in collating a massive amount of information into a well-organized, readable book. Although at times journalistic, with glib analysis at the end of his quasi-historical recitation, this book gives a thorough accounting of all the players and interests that have brought Afghanistan to where it is today. It is useful as a single volume that recounts the rise of the Taliban that is concise and clear. Rashid is a veteran journalist who has covered Afghanistan for years. His connections and interviews from all aspects of Afghani politics and society give the book a depth that as been hard for other books to accomplish.
Sources and appendices are excellent. The organization of the book is in three main parts: 1) 'History of the Taliban Movement,' which is a useful recounting of the Taliban's rise in a chronological fashion. The five chapters each represent one year; 2) 'Islam and the Taliban' explores the origin and nature of the Taliban in thought and practice in the context of other Muslim movements, how it is organized, how it functions in making decisions, and how it administers policy socially and militarily; 3) 'The New Great Game' treats all of the international actors' behaviors and motivations, and the consequences for Afghanistan.
Although his perspectives of all of the relevant actors -the Taliban, the anti-Taliban factions, the UN, regional countries, Western powers, oil companies, Russia- are undeniably put forth for the reader, they only enhance the educational value of the book. Rashid is highly successful in imparting the motivations and values of all the ethnic and religious tensions in Afghani society, and their interlinkages (and the consequent perspectives and involvement of foreign nations with the various contending forces). The paradox of the Taliban's Pashtuni ethnic primacy and cosmic vision of Islam is treated quite well.
Rashid also gives an almost too thorough treatment of the Unocal/Bridas competition over natural gas fields and pipeline politics in Central Asia. The linkages of international politics and the effects on and of the Afghani civil war is outlined as well. The chapter on Osama bin-Laden is excellent. No actor is spared from Rashid's critique. He is very successful at presenting the motivations and worldview of all the different players. There are some points worth quibbling about, such as an adequate presentation of who makes foreign policy decisions in Iran, but the overall effect is successful.
The "New Great Game" may or may or may not turn out to be as impactful as Rashid puts forth. How relevant power competition may be in the region is something that will be played out over time, depending on the energy resources of the region, and the region's ability to achieve some modicum of political stability. Robert A. Manning's critique of this is useful [see: "The Asian Energy Factor" (2000)]. Rashid does not hesitate to illustrate the linkages between the CIA and the ISI, and the intendant consequences of Pakistani machinations and American involvement and indifference in Afghanistan over the years.
Rashid does not overly dwell on making predictions, but a couple of his points are useful: the backlash of Taleban politics into Pakistan; and the internal fragmentation and implosion of the Taleban will probably be the source of its decline, rather than a civil uprising or sudden military success of the Northern Alliance.
I would hesitate before labelling Rashid as some biased, "anti-Talibaner;" anyone who is literate and concerned with human welfare, Muslim or non-Muslim, has every right to be appalled by the situation in Afghanistan.
