The Bookshow Blog

Looking into Afghanistan

Friday, August 13th, 2010

Afghanistan is never far from the headlines. Whether it’s a debate on the length of stay for the coalition forces, the reports of tragic killings of innocent wedding parties by robotic drones or the death or injury of our own soldiers, Afghanistan is a much travelled subject. There are intermittent discussions on how the poppy industry can be stemmed. Most of the world’s heroin comes from the crops grown in the southern regions and there is continuing speculation on the whereabouts of the architect and symbol of terrorism, Osama bin Laden. Has he fled to the dangerous no man’s territory near the border of Pakistan or is he hiding in plain sight? Occasionally we get a more lighthearted story about clowns entertaining children, hairdressing schools or a profile of a brave and enterprising politician.

It has we are told, a long often romanticised history as the crossroads of Central Asia, where east meets west and there have been many invasions or attempts to influence from the Persions to the British and the Soviets. Looking at recent and past writings Christian Caryl suggests despite a lot of coverage in the media and even in academia, we are particularly ignorant of Afghanistan’s place in history and geopolitics.

Most of our general information comes from western journalists; those who are embedded within the coalition forces, those that hide secret cameras under burqas and often document horrific human rights abuses and those that explore the personal lives of families or tribal groups which is the subject of our story this week on the legal wrangle over The Bookseller of Kabul. You can listen or download here. But there are some wonderful and enlightening books around.
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Tags: Afghanistan books, Ahmed Rashid, Christian Caryl, Christina Lamb, culture, Haled Hosseini, The Book Show, William Maley
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