afghanistan

Skelly is a war correspondent covering the Afghanistan war. In search of the big story, he pairs up with Najeeb, an exiled warlord and a tribal Pakistani who has been promised U.S. visas for himself and his girlfriend if he acts as an informant. The two men cross Afghanistan and find themselves victims of intrigue, betrayal, and violence. Their loyalty to each other is their only hope for survival.

Presents an overview of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan up to the year 2000, discussing its origins and beliefs, religious and political ethos, and involvement with the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Osama bin Laden.

The author recalls her visit to Afghanistan in 1997 where she photographed women and interviewed them about the restrictions imposed on their lives by the Taliban regime, and discusses how the circumstances of those women and others has changed since the defeat of the Taliban in 2001.

Jere Van Dyk was on the wrong side of the border. He and three Afghan guides had crossed into the tribal areas of Pakistan, where no Westerner had ventured for years, hoping to reach the home of a local chieftain by nightfall.

A survey of the military history of Afghanistan from the time of Alexander the Great to the fall of the Taliban, discussing age-old conflicts with Arabs and Mongols, the involvement of Britain and the U.S.S.R., and the current American-led coalition.

Benjamin Tupper, a captain in the Army National Guard, tells the story of his time in Afghanistan with the Embedded Training Teams and how, without much knowledge of Afghanistan culture or language, Tupper and his teams set out to train the newly formed Afghan National Army.

Describes the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, and argues that what most people think about the occupation is wrong, explaining how the Russian conscripts suffered badly from mismanagement and strategic errors, but they were never defeated on the battlefield, and withdrew in good order.

Suraya Sadeed chronicles her efforts to bring hope and relief to the refugees, women, and orphans of Afghanistan, describing how she has risked her own life to help the war-torn country and create the organization Help the Afghan Children.

Nineteen-year-old North Carolina surfer and skateboarder John Jude Parish, having been introduced to Islam and Arab literature by a young Brooklyn woman, defers his entrance into Brown University to move to New York, where he studies classical Arabic and meets a Pakistani man who convinces him to travel abroad to further understand Muslim culture, which results in John moving closer to becoming radicalized.