Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia

Table of Contents:
Descent into ChaosMaps Countries and Cities of Central Asia Ethnic Distribution Within Pakistan and Afghanistan Afghan Provinces and Federally Administered Tribal Areas NATO Deployment and Provincial Reconstruction Team Locations in Afghanistan, 2007 Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan, 2007 Military Offensives Launched by the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, 2007-2008 Glossary Acronyms Introduction Imperial Overreach and Nation Building Part One: 9/11 And War 1. A Man With A Mission The Unending Conflict in Afghanistan 2. "The U.S. Will Act Like a Wounded Bear" Pakistan's Long Search for Its Soul 3. The Chief Executive's Schizophrenia Pakistan, the United Nations, and the United States Before 9/11 4. Attack! Retaliation and Invasion 5. The Search for a Settlement Afghanistan and Pakistan at Odds Part Two: The Politics of the Post-9/11 World 6. A Nuclear State of Mind India, Pakistan, and the War of Permanent Instability 7. The One-Billion-Dollar Warlords The War Within Afghanistan 8. Musharraf's Lost Moment Political Expediency and Authoritarian Rule Part Three: The Failure of Nation Building 9. Afghanistan I Economic Reconstruction 10. Afghanistan II Rebuilding Security 11. Double-Dealing with Islamic Extremism Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan 12. Taliban Resurgent The Taliban Return Home Part Four: Descent Into Chaos 13. Al Qaeda's Bolt-Hole Pakistan's Tribal Areas 14. America Shows The Way The Disappeared and the Rendered 15. Drugs and Thugs Opium Fuels the Insurgency 16. Who Lost Uzbekistan? Tyranny in Central Asia 17. The Taliban Offensive Battling for Control of Afghanistan, 2006-2007 18. The Death of an Icon Pakistan Struggles to Survive 19. Conclusion A Fragile Future Acknowledgments Notes Suggested Reading Index

About the Author :
Ahmed Rashid is a journalist who has been covering Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia for more than twenty years. He is a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, Far Eastern Economic Review, Daily Telegraph, and The Nation, a leading newspaper in Pakistan. His #1 New York Times bestseller Taliban has been translated into more than twenty languages.

Review :
"Not only provides thoughtful, detailed dissection of seminal events in Central Asian recent history, but an insightful snapshot into future scenarios of where the roadmaps to terror and peace may be headed." -Greg Mortenson, author of The New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea "Powerful." -Wolf Blitzer "Rashid, a Pakistani journalist, is that most valuable of political analysts: both insider and outsider to the problem he studies. His book should be read by anyone pondering how America might stop widening Osama bin Ladin's pool of bomb-clad volunteers." - Chicago Tribune "[A] brilliant and passionate book." -The New York Review of Books