Customer Reviews

War at the Top of the World : The Struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir and Tibet

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(34)

 

 

First a couple of simple observations.

I found the book as a search of the library stacks in the tibet section. i buy almost all my books online. but i believe everyone ought to just take an hour or so each week just to skim their favorite sections of the library. this was a gem i would never have bumped into online....

on other reviewers here. this is a book that an Indian(india) would find offensive at first reading. he does not pull punches about ethnicity and its history, but this is one of the best features of the book. i hope they can see the heart that it comes from and not the surface level of words. an example would be the description of the internal Indian airlines.

Now to the book.
Its about Afganistan, Pakistan, India, and Tibet. In particular the wars and the people who fight them in this region. the author is a very unusual man, extraordinary in several ways. first his english is journalist, fast paced, honed obviously to write pieces that compete for a newpaper readers attention. Pithy in using one word where another writer would use three. a very visual writer with an imagination and a view to vivid word descriptions that is very good. He would have been as good a novelist as he is a journalist. This really acts to the book and makes the reading a great pleasure.

The topic is a timely one, even given the 2000 date on the book, or the research dating back even longer. The author is knowledgable about the area, passionate about the people and the topic, not afraid to express unpopular opinions. Organized and systematic enough that you feel that you have learned and shared his learning/passion/study. Generally simply the best of the genre.

If it is your desire to learn a little more of the history of this region, or to understand the current events starting in this region and echoing throughout our world, then start with this book. This book makes available to all of us the author's extensive travels, careful analysis, and very important observations concerning the people and events.

my Thanks to him. i am only sorry that he hasn't apparently written other books...maybe i can find a few extended essays on the net.

Eric Margolis has written a book of tumultuous ethnic, political and religious conflict in the border regions of China, India, Pakistan, India and Tibet that rivals the tectonic majesty of the Himalayas. Although his book is short, it is an intense, detailed read of the a region in which the world's two most populous nations border, and three of the world's nuclear powers contend for regional survival and dominance.

The first part of the book focuses on Afghanistan and "the bravest men on earth." While I think that the veterans of Iwo Jima, Inchon and the Normandy invasion might have a claim or two to that title, Margolis nonetheless paints a convincing picture of tough, determined fighters bound by strict codes of honor and rivers of tribal blood. The explanations of the Great Jihad and how the defeat of the Soviet Union has dissipated the focus, and thus the forces, of the struggle against "Satan #1" have led to the present spread of militant Islam (not unlike the 7th and 8th centuries AD) are clairvoyant. While it would overstate the claim that our current war stems directly from the conflict termination of the Russo-Afghan War of the 1980's, there are strong causal ties. Margolis further accurately captures the very circumstances of controlled chaos and weak to non existent government that Osama bin Laden and his al-Qeada criminals look to exploit, whether in eastern Indonesia, southern Philippines, Afghanistan, Lebanon or eastern Africa.

After this opening section, Margolis turns his attention to another, more serious upheaval and potential for conflict with not just religious ideologies, but nuclear weapons. Margolis does a superb job of capturing in short paragraphs and chapters the British penchant for drawing arbitrary boundaries where none have ever stood or belong when dismembering their empire, and the resultant inevitable clashes. The "Durand Line" that separated the Pashtun tribe, one of the world's largest, into half in Afghanistan and half in Pakistan, is another case of British Imperial folly. As if that were not enough, the split down the middle of the Kashmir ensures a constant shifting population around that border between India and Pakistan, and armed conflict as each attempts to assert its supremacy and sovereignty over that contested fertile region. In trying to control the Kashmir, and the headwaters, both sides are naturally pushed higher and higher into the mountains, in essence trying to find a flanking position. In this case, the "flanking" movements have led them to the Siachen Glacier, 17,000 feet above sea level where men begin to die of cardiac and pulmonary edema and other exotic mountain climber maladies. Further, given the inaccessibility of the region, the cost of each round of artillery ammunition is exorbitant, and being paid by two of the poorest nations on earth for a piece of national pride. Lastly, in this section, Margolis neatly captures and summarizes the strategic dilemma for Pakistan: like Israel, lacking strategic depth and having a flat open southern border which can be quickly overrun by Indian armored task groups, Pakistan feels it has no option but to build nuclear, and be prepared to "go ugly early" in case of a war with India. Unlike the former USSR and the USA during the Cold War, neither side has enough weapons to apply the MAD doctrine, so there is no "comfortable" negating influence.

Enter the Dragon. In the last third of the book, Margolis tries to portray the depth and complexity of the relationship between China and India at the top of the world. China has its own expansionist mandate, and internal fundamental rebellious Muslim population. India, too, has an expansionist plan into the Himalayas and northern high mountain plains. Both have postured against the other looking for leverage, and a flank. While Margolis does not paint quite so bleak a picture of these tow nations and the probability of war, given their size, and rapid naval expansion of both powers, it may be more inevitable than the more intuitive Pak-India war.

This book has the traditional strengths and weaknesses of a book written by journalists. Favorably, it presents in short form a massive spectrum of international relations, geopolitics, ethnic divisiveness and religious separatism that is breath taking in its scope. Unfavorably, it requires that the reader have some pre existing knowledge of the region and subject matter. It does not have footnotes, so it is hard to plan further reading. It lacks enough maps or pictures to add richness to the written word. All in all, a good read that presents the issues clearly and concisely, prompts the reader to ask as many questions as it attempts to answer, and raises grave concern about perhaps the world's most dangerous flash point.

I am a regular reader of Mr Margolis's columns in Toronto Sun and watch 'Diplomatic Immunity', a fine international affairs program where he is a frequent guest.

Margolis has an easy writing style along with a gift for story telling. But where he falters (and falters miserably) is portrayal of facts. Since 911, American public has a new-found respect for nations that have to fight rabid Islamic militias all over the world.

This book was written in 1999, when American media was just beginning to get uncomfortable with the Taliban and America's involvement in Pakistan. His sympathies clearly lie with Islamic warmongers, almost to a point of obsession (he admits to chanting from his heart a frenzied "Allah ho Akbar" along with his hosts).

While at it, he moves along a disjointed tangent of genealogy, almost showing signs of white pride at the "fact" that Afghans are descendants of Germanic/Nordic Greeks (I am not kidding!) and therefore noble, rugged warlike people. He also seems to have maniacal dislike of India and Hindus. As he calls them shifty folks who vent out their frustration on local Moslems because of lack of adequate sex in their lives!!! Moslems on the other hand, lead a healthy, libertine sex lives and therefore are saner, more satisfied and genteel people, all by virtue of polygamy!!! But wait, that's not all! How does he come to this conclusion? There are more sex clinics in India than in Pakistan!!!

Most importantly, he never makes even a passing mention of the plight of Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus). These well educated, cultured folks were brutally driven out of their native land and now live in squalid conditions in refugee camps in and around Delhi. Worse, he seems to indicate in other media sources that these folks deserved what they got for siding with Hindu India.

Make no mistake, this book was written based on short field trips to affected areas. But these trips seemed far few and arbitrary and almost none to India. He is apparently vexed at Indian authorities for not issuing him a visa. He also seems to vehemently dislike people of Chinese origin and China in general

It's an interesting read but has many vague, sweeping and unsubstantiated statements. Often one sided, but I must admit, has some valuable insights as well. I still had to give it two stars because it can be a good initiation to those unfamiliar with this region.

If you need an opposing viewpoint that has pro-Islamic sympathies and some anti-western positions, then this is a reasonably good book. But as other reviewers have cautioned, "keep your BS indicator handy" and make this your 10th book on this subject.

Some assumptions like || India's GDP is barely larger than Netherlands's and does not deserve the attention of foreign investors || simply makes mockery of economics. The logical conclusion of this argument--Are all foreign investors so stupid as to risk billions of their dollars? I have been a frequent visitor to India over the years and find some of the statements made in this book absolutely ridiculous.

In this entire book, he draws an unnecessarily complicated geopolitical scenario when it comes to Indo-Us relations. Both these countries have been suspicious of each other for a long time. But the relationship was painstakingly built over the last decade and a half outside the purview of both the governments thru commerce. As a result, is now better than ever at the policy making level.

IMO the best non-scholarly books on India, (from a western perspective) are "Empire of the Soul" by Paul William Roberts and "Genius of India" by Guy Sorman. Both these authors are liberal Indo-philes and somewhat left wing oriented in their outlook. But let that not fool you. They state their facts very objectively and then draw their own conclusions, which may or may not be agreeable to you.

By contrast, Margolis simply warps facts at the outset and draws conclusions, therefore giving you little room to arrive at your own. The only bonus from this book being, it presents a reasonably well informed military strengths and weaknesses of that region's players (which is not discussed in the other two aforementioned books). On aspects of government, economics, society, culture and other non-military issues, from which he tries to give depth to his argument, it's a disappointment. He should have stuck to his strengths viz military, war games/scenarios and the like.

Further, if you want to spice up your reading on oriental societies you may want to check out "The Cradle of Erotica". :-)

For a book which ambitiously sets out to present a "revealatory history" it ends up being a travelogue replete with personal impressions derived from expeditions in the region. The author is outspoken in his insightful views and sympathies in his ground-zero perspective of the cynical exploitation of people's movements and struggles in the region. The book is far from being a well-balanced, carefully researched treatment of the conflicts in the region.

The author employs a very highly effective narrative writing style which makes for a racy reading, interspersing interpretations of history and religion with descriptions of natural scenery, and bloodiness of war. However, the book lacks a certain flow and the reader comes away with a feeling that the book has been put together from a series of features/articles as evidenced by the repititiveness in several parts.

I can't understand why some people are strongly criticizing this book. Margolis has done a great job in bringing forward the truths and facts about Afghanistan and Kashmir. He has correctly analyzed the real reason behind Kremlin's invasion of Afghanistan and I agree with him that if it hadn't been for Pakistan, the red army would have marched on to Gulf's oil reserves.

The 600,000 Indian Army troops in Kashmir have killed about 70,000 Kashmiris since 1989. Kashmiri people are asking for the right of self-determination. What is wrong with that? There are UN Security Council resolutions that have given them this right. India's first prime minister had agreed to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir. The Indian government has denied to hold a plebiscite ever since.

People here in the US must read this book to get a clear understanding of a complex situation in the sub continent.

The first thing to know about this book is that it is not a neutral book about topics that arouse significant controversy.

If you consider the book to consist of neutral facts, you are mistaken. But if you read it as the opinions of millions of people, you will learn how they think, and what they may not always mention in casual conversation. You can be sure that North American devotees of political correctness will not touch Margolis's opinions.

There never was much love lost between the Indians and Pakistanis; Margolis' description of a Pakistani army officer who told him that he feels at home wherever he can fight the hated Indian makes this animosity quite clear, as do the reviews of this book. What makes this book worth reading is Margolis's description of his involvement with the Mujahideen, in the American political lexicon of the day "freedom fighters" who did much to rid the world of the bane of Communism. Many of the points he makes, such as that the Taliban, however many flaws they had, were a huge improvement over anarchy with widespread rape and murder, are indispensable to a true understanding of Afghanistan, but rarely mentioned in the North American press.

Other parts of this book leave room for improvement. Margolis is not exactly a fan of the Hindu religion or the Indian government. He is not only critical, one of the few Western writers willing to describe the dirty war in Kashmir, but somewhat one-sided. In my opinion, Kashmir's strategic importance, India's fear of unraveling, its rivalry with Pakistan, and Nehru's Kashmiri provenance figure far more heavily in Kashmir's past and future than the considerations that Margolis describes in long detail. Margolis accepts China's invasion of Tibet as an unfortunate fact of life; there is no overlooking that he is less stoic about India's presence in Kashmir.

Given the pages of vitriol Margolis has to spare for India's caste system, which damns many to a life of poverty, he could have made more of Pakistan's incredible corruption - transparency international rates it as the 144th most corrupt country of 159 - which does so much to keep Pakistan in poverty, and for that matter, poorer than India. This oversight is particularly glaring as he waxes lyrically over what an improvement and opportunity Muslim rule was in India which is "only" the 88th most corrupt nation. Another quibble is that Margolis doesn't raise the possibility of brinkmanship in describing the Kargil standoff. The Pakistanis and Indians cordially dislike each other; nevertheless, I find it unlikely that they would have gone all the way, and mutually irradiated themselves over a small spit of land. The book could have used a better editor; there are some bad typos.

Even if you disagree with every word in this book, and perhaps especially if you disagree with every word in this book, it is well worth reading, because it provides a concise and well-written description of the beliefs of many Pakistanis, especially of many in the Pakistani military.

This is an interesting book written by a Hoya with a fascinating life, and well-worth reading.

I bought this book because I was curious about the subject. However, early on in the book , the writer makes his biases so clear, that it's difficult to keep reading. The interviews tell the story: he interviews a Pakistani colonel, Afghan mujahedin, General Zia-ul-haq (the former pakistani president), a bunch of Pakistani troops (can you spot the trend?...). There are no interviews with Indian or chinese sources. In fact, there is nothing in this book that indicates Margolis even visited India.

It seems to me that the writer tries to be objective (in places he makes pertinent observation) and his grasp of the strategic perspectives of Pakistan, China and India are good. However, he lets his sympathies that stem from his long association with the Islamic cause cloud his judgement.

The subject matter is engrossing, but this book deals with it irresponsibly.If you choose to buy this book, read it critically.

As one ploughs through this book, one cannot but conclude that Mr. Margolis does not even know his geography, so important at least in a mountain region. A major faux pas is in the chapters narrating his visit to the Siachen Glacier, a region I'm particularly familiar with. Mr.Margolis has clearly been led up the garden path by the Pakistani officials and officers he came in contact with. This is especially evident in his description of travels through Baltistan with one Captain Aziz of the Pakistan Army.

Amusingly, Mr. Margolis believes that Mount K2 and Godwin Austin are two different peaks (enough to put off anyone from the mountain-climbing fraternity from the book). More amazingly, in two days, over atrocious roads, he seems to cover the greater part of the conflict areas of Baltistan, including Kargil and Siachen. In this dream journey, Captain Aziz and Margolis leave Skardu at dawn and cross Gol and Khapalu before lunch. After an afternoon nap, they drive along the Shyok river on an atrocious dirt track till they reach the crest of the Ladakh range from where he gets a glimpse of Kargil. The author then makes the interesting observation that from Kargil a road leads on to the Nubra Valley. Thereafter, the drive takes them over the "Bila fond Pass" (sic) at 15,600 feet, followed by a night halt in "a demented village". The next day's drive is again over a terrible dirt track which leads the two adventurers to the army base at Dansam at the "foot of the mighty Siachen Glacier a 50 mile river of ice". Here, of course, he meets his companion of old days, Colonel Youssef, a strapping Pathan from Peshawar who reminiscences about Skendberg, Albania (the country of the author's mother).

The next day, they drive to the 25 Punjab Regiment base, where the author is received by Colonel Musa, who reminds him of the Ottoman Sultan in GK Chesterton's poem "Lepanto" ("there is laughter like the fountain in that face that all men feared"). Here the author is given a fire-power demonstration, which includes firing by 130 mm guns. The guns supposedly succeed in destroying an Indian artillery position, as reported by the Forward Observation Posts. Colonel Musa points out a commanding peak, held by the Pakistanis, which the Indian Army has been unsuccessfully trying to capture, in one instance even being driven off by an officer who had rappelled down to the top of a peak from a helicopter. The author is then supposedly taken to Conway Saddle where he gets a glimpse of Indian positions a kilometre away. At the end of this chapter, the author observes, "No hatred I have ever encountered, save that held by Serbs and Greeks for Muslims, equalled the vitriolic detestation between Indians and Pakistanis."

As a mountaineer with climbing experience in the Himalayas, I have spent some time on these particular chapters as they are of interest to any Himalayan traveller. In his book, the author makes no mention of encountering any traffic on a road which is the lifeline of a brigade and more of Pakistani troops. The road obviously could not be in the atrocious condition described by the writer. A few thousand Pakistani troops' supplies depend on it, for heaven's sakes. More to the point, Bilafond Pass is not on this road. In fact, it and Conway Saddle are difficult to reach even for experienced mountaineers. And with the Indian army positions overlooking these passes, any attempt to reach there would have resulted in disaster for the visitors.

It is fairly obvious that the redoubtable Capt Aziz took the author some distance along Shyok Valley and not to the crest of Ladakh Range from where he claims he got a glimpse of Kargil. Aziz and his superiors must be laughing through their "ferocious" beards, for what he indicated as Kargil to the author was probably an Indian or even a Pakistani village in the Shyok Valley. This is further corroborated by the fact that anyone that can read a map see. The approach to the Nubra is along the Shyok Valley, and not, as Mr. Margolis claims, from Kargil from where a good road goes to Leh and thereafter winds up to Khardung La before twisting down to the Shyok Valley.

It is most likely that the author was taken along the Bilafond glacier, where the Pakistan Army "25 Punjab" Regiment's posts are located. The peak shown by Colonel Musa to the author is most likely the former `Qaid' Peak, captured in a fine feat of arms by Indian Army Subedar Major Bana Singh and men of "8 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry" Regiment in 1986. This place was the backbone of Pakistani defence. The Pakistani Army have never reconciled themselves to its loss, and the Pakistani public at large still remains unaware of this debacle. The previously mentioned helicopter incident actually happened in 1992 in the Chulung Complex, where a brave Pakistani officer tried to reach a commanding height by helicopter and perished in the attempt. That particular battle also resulted in the death of a Pakistani brigadier. There is no Indian artillery gun position under observation by Pakistan, for the simple fact is that in Siachen, despite horrendous odds, the Indian Army holds the heights. If the Pakistan Army can view an Indian artillery position there, they are probably not going to be around for too long. Evidently, Pakistani forces could not have shown Mr.Margolis the Siachen Glacier, let alone driving him to that place!

Mr.Margolis seems to have a personal liking for "Islamic Warriors" and thereby has tended to accept at face value, anything uttered by Pakistani soliders. I'm appalled that he did not even cross check the supposed locations that he was told he was visiting with maps to make sure that they are accurate. It is exactly such a lack of research of the region and its conflicts, that the world should be wary of. That's what got us into this mess in the first place.

Eric Margolis attempts to provide a strategic analysis of the ongoing disputes and their likely trajectory. The book's claim to authenticity of analysis and credibility rests on Margolis' brief visits to some areas of this Himalayan belt. But to be convincing, a study of this kind, requires in the first place a capacity for dispassionate analysis. Moreover, since this is an area which many have visited, a place where armies camp, much has already been written about it. Consequently, any study of the subject ought to be based on meticulous observation and scrupulous adherence to known and incontrovertible facts. Mr. Margolis seems to have dispensed with both these requirements. The book is deeply flawed by colored judgements and factual errors. One reads it as though through a cracked mirror because at the core of this work is the author's evident and palpable dislike of India.

It is likely that in his perambulations Mr. Margolis had an encounter with the ubiquitous Indian `Babu' (bureaucrat), which perhaps soured his disposition. The book is replete with disparaging remarks of all things Indian, a country he describes as "quaint, exotic and a Third World derelict". He delights in characterising Indian politicians as "local warlords, powerful feudal land owners, caste-based party bosses and gangsters". The vibrancy of Indian democracy is casually written off in a few phrases. The police forces are "undisciplined thugs of little military value", the temples are "pornographic", the roads are death traps, and Indian airline pilots are "notorious for drink and incompetence". In fact, Margolis' baleful and jaundiced eye never misses an opportunity to frown at anything `Indian'. On the other hand, the "Islamic Warrior" is his brother deserving of constant praise-"tall, true, fierce, ferocious formidable". There are stories of "Fadil the Kurd", "Musa the Warrior" ("I like to fight wherever there are Indians") and "Commander Nadji the Egyptian". Only K.P.S. Gill finds favourable mention, and even that is back-handed. Perhaps, the author got frightened by the legendary Punjab tamer.

Mr. Margolis starts with a cursory visit to Afghanistan after which he zooms in on Kashmir, and particularly on the role of Afghans in the region. His account of alleged Indian repression in Kashmir is particularly merciless. He also makes the entire Himalayan region an area of dispute vis-à-vis India. For example, in one place he talks of "Chinese Sinkiang and India held Ladakh". The `occupation' of the latter he compares with the Chinese annexation of Tibet. It is obvious that Margolis has not heard of the famed Ladakh Scouts, sons of the soil, one of the most highly decorated regiments of the Indian Army, willing and successful defenders of Ladakh in all of India's wars. Can Mr. Margolis find a Tibetan army fighting for the Chinese?

In one passage, the author turns the rationale of the Siachen conflict on its head by claiming that Indian mountaineering expeditions triggered Pakistani army activity on Siachen, whereas the entire mountaineering fraternity knows that foreign expeditions to the glacier originating from Pakistan, 14 in all, combined with `cartographic aggression', provoked India into occupying Siachen. The climbing expeditions, accompanied by Pakistani liaison officers, provided the rationale for Pakistan to lay claim on the glacier. Maps began to be published in Europe showing the extended line of control joining the Karakoram Pass in the east following the Pakistani claim (the line along the glacier had earlier been left undefined-see Himal on Siachen, December 1998). These maps conceded the entire Siachen Glacier to Pakistan, and showed Pakistan and China sharing a long common border to the east of Siachen. The Indian Army occupied Siachen in 1984 when Pakistan gave permission to a Japanese expedition to attempt Rimo, a peak located in a side valley east of the Siachen and overlooking Aksai Chin, which would have linked Pakistan controlled Kashmir with China, along the historic trade route that leads to Chinese Turkestan over the Karakoram Pass.

Eric Margolis, subtly and not so subtly, draws attention throughout the book to his vast travels and his reportage of the various conflicts that plague the globe. His smug conclusions are based on this obviously wide-ranging but depth-less experience. In summary, it is clear that the author's personal predilections have unfortunately tended to color his analysis. I give a big thumbs down for this shallow tome.