Afghanistan Under Siege

In this book, based on field work undertaken in Afghanistan itself and through engagement with postcolonial theory, Bojan Savic critiques western intervention in Afghanistan by showing how its casting of Afghan natives as “dangerous” has created a power network which fractures the country – in echoes of 19th and 20th century colonial powers in the region. Savic also offers an analysis of how and by what means global security priorities have affected Afghan lives.

An account of the 1929 uprising in Kabul. During the occupation Fayz Muhammad, a Kabul resident and historian, kept a detailed journal, which forms the basis of this book. It covers the occupiers' extortion, confiscation, and the resulting hardships, as well as the actions of those who resisted.

A Sunday Times bestseller, powerful, highly-charged and moving, No Way Out is Adam Jowett’s tribute to the men of Easy Company who paid a heavy price for serving their country in Afghanistan. 'Fiercely immersive. Truly heroic.' – Tom Marcus, bestselling author of Soldier Spy. ______________ In Helmand province in July 2006, Major Adam Jowett was given command of Easy Company, a hastily assembled and under-strength unit of Paras and Royal Irish rangers. Their mission was to hold the District Centre of Musa Qala at any cost. Easy Company found themselves in a ramshackle compound, cut off and heavily outnumbered by the Taliban in the town. In No Way Out, Adam evokes the heat and chaos of battle as the Taliban hit Easy Company with wave after wave of brutal attack. He describes what it was like to have responsibility for the lives of his men as they fought back heroically over twenty-one days and nights of relentless, nerve-shredding combat. Finally, as they came down to their last rounds and death stared Easy Company in the face, the siege took an extraordinary turn . . . _____________ 'Vivid and brilliantly written: a pulsating account of the battle for Musa Qala, the Rorke's Drift of our times.’ – Martin Bell, OBE, war reporter. 'A superb account of the chaos and brutality of conflict' – Levison Wood

A fascinating and often terrifying firsthand account of the 1982 war in Lebanon, Under Siege vividly reveals the complex negotiations and military maneuvers which ended with the evacuation of the P.L.O. from Beirut. Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian, lived with his family in Beirut during the siege and ensuing massacres. Using many usually inaccessible sources, such as P.L.O. telexes and government messages, and interviews with key military officials and diplomats, he tells the story from the compelling viewpoint of those living amid the fighting. Khalidi provides a carefully detailed picture of the P.L.O. from within, the local Lebanese environment, the military pressure on the P.L.O. and Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, and of U.S. diplomacy during the crisis. While focusing primarily on the inner workings of the P.L.O., the author also addresses various aspects of Lebanese and inter-Arab politics and examines the military and diplomatic behavior of involved outside parties such as the United States, France, and the former Soviet Union. Offering a totally new perspective on the longest Arab-Israeli war since 1948, Under Siege will have broad appeal to those in international relations, Middle East studies, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the general reader interested in American foreign relations and the Middle East.

Over the last fifteen years, Pakistan has come to be defined exclusively in terms of its struggle with terror. But are ordinary Pakistanis extremists? And what explains how Pakistanis think? Much of the current work on extremism in Pakistan tends to study extremist trends in the country from a detached position—a top-down security perspective, that renders a one-dimensional picture of what is at its heart a complex, richly textured country of 200 million people. In this book, using rigorous analysis of survey data, in-depth interviews in schools and universities in Pakistan, historical narrative reporting, and her own intuitive understanding of the country, Madiha Afzal gives the full picture of Pakistan’s relationship with extremism. The author lays out Pakistanis’ own views on terrorist groups, on jihad, on religious minorities and non-Muslims, on America, and on their place in the world. The views are not radical at first glance, but are riddled with conspiracy theories. Afzal explains how the two pillars that define the Pakistani state—Islam and a paranoia about India—have led to a regressive form of Islamization in Pakistan’s narratives, laws, and curricula. These, in turn, have shaped its citizens’ attitudes. Afzal traces this outlook to Pakistan’s unique and tortured birth. She examines the rhetoric and the strategic actions of three actors in Pakistani politics—the military, the civilian governments, and the Islamist parties—and their relationships with militant groups. She shows how regressive Pakistani laws instituted in the 1980s worsened citizen attitudes and led to vigilante and mob violence. The author also explains that the educational regime has become a vital element in shaping citizens’ thinking. How many years one attends school, whether the school is public, private, or a madrassa, and what curricula is followed all affect Pakistanis’ attitudes about terrorism and the rest of the world. In the end, Afzal suggests how this beleaguered nation—one with seemingly insurmountable problems in governance and education—can change course.

Depicts the rise and fall of the militant labor movement in modern El Salvador.

In December 2007, Stephen Grey, a Sunday Times reporter, was under fire in Afghanistan as British and US forces struggled to liberate the Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala. Taking shelter behind an American armoured Humvee, Grey turned his head to witness scenes of carnage. A car and a truck were riddled with gunfire. Their occupants, including several children, had died. Taliban positions were pounded by bullets and bombs dropped on their compounds. A day later, as the operation continued, a mine exploded just yards from Grey, killing a British soldier. Who, he wondered in the days that followed, was responsible for the bloodshed? And what purpose did it serve? A compelling story of one military venture that lasted several days, Operation Snakebite draws on Grey's exclusive interviews with everyone from private soldiers to NATO commanders. The result is a thrilling and at times horrifying story of a war which has gone largely unnoticed back home.