Winter In Kandahar

Afghanistan- the name conjures images of rugged mountains, ancient cities, hardened Mujaheddin, a country rife with regional rivalries, and the eternal struggle between Tajik and Pashtun. Afghanistan comes to life in this epic adventure of love, betrayal, and war. Young Tajik Ahmed Jan's heroic journey begins in the Northern Alliance stronghold near Taloqan just a month prior to 9/11. He is swept away by the chaos that soon engulfs the country before a chance discovery propels him to the forefront of the clash between civilizations. Pursued by both the CIA operative Stone Waverly and al-Qaida, he struggles to save his people from obliteration and find the true meaning of life in a land where all seems lost. Benjamin Franklin Award Finalist in the category Best New Voice in Fiction in 2004.

In 1968, with Franco still in power, 21-year-old Ana M. Briongos left her native city of Barcelona for the first time and went to Afghanistan. Staying first in Kandahar, then in Kabul, it was not long before she fell in love with this fascinating country. Between 1968 and 1977, she would return there many times. In her quest for self-discovery, she encountered a cast of characters worthy of a novel, from street vendors in the bazaar to members of the country's ruling class and relatives of the Afghan royal family. Ana M. Briongos was also very privileged to be given a rare and intriguing glimpse behind the veil into the hidden world of Afghan women. "Winter in Kandahar" offers a personal recollection of an Afghanistan that no longer exists: that of the final years of a forty-year-old monarchy on the verge of collapse. The book provides an insight into Afghanistan's complex system of clans and tribes, as well as a compelling account of the country's troubled history. The friendships Ana Briongos cemented during those years are still very much alive; this book represents a tribute to the survival of friendship through adversity against a backdrop of adventure and intrigue.

“I wish with all my heart that you were in school. I love my country, Daughter, but here we have been robbed of our most precious gifts: thought and imagination. Only in an atmosphere of peace and security can artists, poets, and writers flourish. Without our artists and storytellers, we have no history, and without history our future is unmoored—we drift. It is art, never war, that carries culture forward.”

An Invaluable Guide To Strategy Alexander The Great (356_323 Bc) Was Arguably The Greatest Military Strategist, Tactician And Ruler In World History. By The Time Of His Death, Aged Thirty-Three, His Armies Had Conquered Virtually The Entire Known World, From The Shores Of The Mediterranean To The Foothills Of India. His Achievements Have Inspired And Influenced A Great Number Of Past And Current Military, Political And Business Leaders. This Book Provides The Wisdom And Secrets Of This Great Empire Builder, Demonstrating How They Can Be Applied To Conquer Today'S Challenges. Blending Insights From His Years Of Business Experience With His Lifelong Study Of Alexander, Partha Bose Interweaves A Gripping Biography With Compelling Analyses Of The Strategies, Tactics And Leadership Approaches Of Successful Institutions Including Dell, Ge, Honda, Ikea, The Harvard Law School, And The East India Company And Individuals, Such As Elizabeth I, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bernard Montgomery, Gandhi, Jack Welch And Lou Gerstner.

This book contains articles on historic cities of the Islamic world, ranging from West Africa to Malaysia, which over the centuries have been centres of culture and learning and of economic and commercial life, and which have contributed much to the consolidation of Islam as a faith and as a social and political institution. The articles have been taken from the second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, completed in 2004, but in many cases expanded and rewritten. All have been updated to include fresh historical information, with note of contemporary social developments and population statistics. The book thus delineates the urban background of Islam has it has evolved up to the present day, highlighting the role of such great cities as Cairo, Istanbul, Baghdad and Delhi in Islamic history, and also brings them together in a rich panorama illustrating one of mankind's greatest achievements, the living organism of the city.

The story of the British commander who led a three-hundred-mile march from Kabul to Kandahar and became the toast of Victorian England. This book examines the role of Frederick Roberts in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, culminating in his famous march in 1880 with ten thousand British and Indian soldiers, covering three hundred miles in twenty-three days, from Kabul to Kandahar to defeat the Afghan army of Ayub Khan, pretender to the Amirship of Kabul. The march made Roberts one of late Victorian England’s great military heroes, partly because of the achievement itself, partly because the victory restored British prestige after defeat, and finally because of Roberts’ astute use of the press to puff his victory. This overcame the earlier damage done to his reputation by the political storm that followed his hanging of over eighty Afghans in revenge for the massacre of a British envoy and his escort. It enabled the liberal Viceroy of India, Lord Ripon, to extract his forces from an Afghan imbroglio with prestige restored and an emir on the Afghan throne who for thirty-nine years maintained friendship with British India. Roberts (or Bobs as he was known) subsequently advanced to command the Indian Army, working closely with future viceroys to influence Indian defense policy on the North-West Frontier, and being hymned by Rudyard Kipling, poet of empire. His bestselling autobiography, Forty-One Years in India, established his image before the British public and he remains one of Britain’s best known, if least understood, military figures