Adventures In Afghanistan

Soviet troops had "officially" withdrawn, but the country was still in the ravages of war when Louis Palmer ventured into Afghanistan, pursuing legends of a secret knowledge. His story is a fascinating interweave of political and spiritual intrigue. Not unlike Journeys with a Sufi Master, this enthralling book falls into the category described by Shah in The Commanding Self as "designed to produce a certain preparatory climate in the mind of the reader or to inform those who are not able to understand the total implications of a person's function. These books have a value which is not immediately obvious, but which is useful in many ways.... Those who are prepared to see the 'wave as an aspect of the sea' can learn that the book, a part of its content, is a stepping-stone to something else."

Two kidnapped Americans, a US Army Special Forces major and an archaeologist, hijack an Iraqi airplane bound for Baghdad and land in western Afghanistan. The western government decides to detain them secretly for a year. Soon the Taliban emerges and the government forces them to get involved in the civil war. This is the story of their desperate struggles for survival in the midst of the bloody civil war, religious bigotry, and the elevated anti-American sentiment begins.

This is the story of one man's endeavor to discover precious gems and to lead a life filled with loyal friends and extraordinary adventures. He finds it all in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan but not without risking his life. In this book Gary W. Bowersox spins his tales of thirty two years of discovery both introspective and worldwide. Along the way he encounters danger and intrigue as he builds lasting friendships. He has traded gems and stories with Afghan miners, ethnic peoples, freedom fighters, government officials, scientist, and on a few occasions, international spies.

The remarkable story of the heroic effort to save and preserve Afghanistan's wildlife-and a culture that derives immense pride and a sense of national identity from its natural landscape. Postwar Afghanistan is fragile, volatile, and perilous. It is also a place of extraordinary beauty. Evolutionary biologist Alex Dehgan arrived in the country in 2006 to build the Wildlife Conservation Society's Afghanistan Program, and preserve and protect Afghanistan's unique and extraordinary environment, which had been decimated after decades of war. Conservation, it turned out, provided a common bond between Alex's team and the people of Afghanistan. His international team worked unarmed in some of the most dangerous places in the country-places so remote that winding roads would abruptly disappear, and travel was on foot, yak, or mule. In The Snow Leopard Project, Dehgan takes readers along with him on his adventure as his team helps create the country's first national park, completes the some of the first extensive wildlife surveys in thirty years, and works to stop the poaching of the country's iconic endangered animals, including the elusive snow leopard. In doing so, they help restore a part of Afghan identity that is ineffably tied to the land itself.

"Describes the people and events of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. The reader's choices reveal the historical details"--

An energetic and enthralling series of encounters with warlords, mujahideen fighters and hardy deminers that will take you into the life of an Australian soldier sent alone into the wilds of Afghanistan. In 1991, following the Soviet-Afghan war, Graeme Membrey left the comfort of his home in Perth to work for an Afghan NGO in the United Nations demining program. Along with his pregnant wife, he travelled to Karachi, then to Islamabad, before settling in the city of Peshawar where he was to spend a year closely working with deminers in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Away from the front line, this book deals with the less-told story of what is left behind after war ends. With humour and humility, Graeme Membrey recounts a variety of incidents and surprising stories of his time in this part of the world. Behind the anecdotes lies the story of friendship and the universal connexion between humans in spite of language barriers and cultural differences.

"This account describes the author's adventures during an 18-month journey "beyond forbidden frontiers" in Asia. With minimal equipment and disguised as an itinerant Muslim, he hitch-hiked and walked through southern Turkey, and the Iran of the Ayatollahs, entering Afghanistan illegally in the wake of a convoy of Chinese weapons and then spent months dodging Russian helicopter gunships with the rebel guerillas. He was the first foreigner to cross from Pakistan into the closed western province of China since the revolution on 1949"--Provided by publisher