Asia Bookroom :: Afghanistan

	The Afghanistan Wars. MALEY, WILLIAM. Stock ID: 64205 Map, x + 340pp, references, index, paperback. "The current situation in Afghanistan is all too familiar, but its past remains unfamiliar to many. William Maley offers a valuable insight into Afghanistan's wars and the domestic, regional, and international politics that have exposed the population of what was once one of the most stable states in Asia to enormous damage. Maley examines the Soviet-Afghan War, the Afghan Civil War and the current conflict in the context of Afghanistan's cultural, social, political and geographical complexities. These are complexities with which policy makers, journalists, students and scholars must now come to terms." (Publisher's description). (When referring to this item please quote stockid 64205) ... more	AU$51.00
	West of Kabul, East of New York. An Afghan American Story. ANSARY, TAMIM. Stock ID: 78837 292pp, dustjacket. The son of an Afghan man and an American woman Tamim Ansary is at home in both cultures. In this book he explores the confrontation between the cultures and looks at the meeting places between them as seen through his personal story. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 78837) ... more	AU$19.95 WAS AU$38.95
	Fire. JUNGER, SEBASTIAN. Stock ID: 79526 With an essay on Afghanistan and a new afterword by the author. xvii + 250pp, small remainder mark lower edge, paperback. "A riveting collection of literary journalism by the bestselling author of The Perfect Storm, capped off brilliantly by a new Afterword and a timely essay about war-torn Afghanistan -- a superb eyewitness report about the Taliban's defeat in Kabul -- new to book form. Sebastian Junger has made a specialty of bringing to life the drama of nature and human nature. Few writers have been to so many disparate and desperate corners of the globe. Fewer still have met the standard of great journalism more consistently. None has provided more starkly memorable evocations of extreme events. From the murderous mechanics of the diamond trade in Sierra Leone, to an inferno forest fire burning out of control in the steep canyons of Idaho, to the forensics of genocide in Kosovo, this collection of Junger's reporting will take readers to places they need to know about but wouldn't dream of going on their own. In his company we travel to these places, pass through frightening checkpoints, actual and psychological, and come face-to-face with the truth." Publisher's description. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 79526) ... more	AU$14.95 WAS AU$22.95
	Afghanistan. HAMILTON, ANGUS. Stock ID: 99145 Very well illustrated with over 140 black and white photographic plates, a clean clear folding map of Afghanistan by the author in good condition bound in at rear, xxi + 562pp, index. Binding rubbed and faded, remains of label upper cover, names and embossed library stamp of two prior private owners, endpapers a little browned, text sound and clean. First edition of the first comprehensive study of Afghanistan. Although a number of publications on various aspects of the country had appeared in the late 19th century here the author endeavoured to produce a complete record of the subject. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 99145) ... more	AU$175.00
	Into the Land of Bones. HOLT, FRANK L. Stock ID: 99324 Map, xiii + 241pp, appendix, notes, index. Paperback. "Accounts of Alexander's invasion of ancient Bactria read eerily like news from our own day. Frank L. Holt follows Alexander's historical, archaeological, and numismatic legacy back and forth between ancient Bactria and modern Afghanistan. Recounting the plight of the most powerful leader of the time as he led the most sophisticated army of its day into the treacherous world of tribal warlords, Holt describes those gruelling campaigns and the impact they had on Alexander, his generals, their troops, and the world. "Into the Land of Bones" also examines the conflict from the point of view of the local warlords who pushed the invading Greeks to the limits of their endurance - and sometimes beyond, into mania and mutiny. The lively narrative situates the current war in Afghanistan in a broader historical perspective." Publisher's description. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 99324) ... more	AU$49.95
	An Afghan Journey. WILLEMSEN, ROGER. Stock ID: 101910 Colour photographic illustrations, 220pp, dustjacket. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 101910) ... more	AU$59.95
	The Khyber Pass. A History of Empire and Invasion. DOCHERTY, PADDY. Stock ID: 101926 Map, black and white illustrations, colour photographic plates, xii + 261pp, index. "Thirty miles long, and in places no more than sixteen metres wide, the Pass is the principal route through the great mountain borderlands between India and Central Asia - and the path of invasion for generations of conquerors. This book charts its remarkable story. It also describes how around the Pass emerged three of the great world religions." Publisher's description. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 101926) ... more	AU$49.95
	The Way of the World. BOUVIER, NICOLAS. Stock ID: 102465 Map, black and white hand illustrations, 326pp, paperback. Reborn from the ashes of a Pakistan rubbish heap, this volume tells of a friendship between a writer and an artist, forged on an impecunious, life-enhancing journey from Serbia to Afghanistan in the 1950s. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 102465) ... more	AU$34.95
	The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan. CREWS, ROBERT D., AMIN TARZI. (EDITORS). Stock ID: 118101 Maps, 430pp, notes, index, dustjacket. This book shows how the Taliban was less an attempt to revive a medieval theocracy than a dynamic, complex, and adaptive force rooted in the history of Afghanistan and shaped by international politics. This book investigates questions relating to the Taliban and offers a guide to "what went wrong" with the American reconstruction project in Afghanistan. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 118101) ... more	AU$54.95
	A Thousand Splendid Suns. HOSSEINI, KHALED. Stock ID: 102433 Audiobook, 11 CDs, running time 12 hours. The bestselling author of "The Kite Runner" returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel about the bond between two women in Afghanistan who are brought together by war, loss, and fate. Unabridged. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 102433) ... more	AU$69.95
	Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan. ROY, OLIVIER. Stock ID: 53419 vi + 253pp, appendix, notes, bibliography, index, edges browned, spine faded, covers slightly worn, otherwise a good copy. In this book the author examines the history, ideology and structures of the resistance to the present Afghan central government and its Russian ally. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 53419) ... more	AU$25.00
	The Military Operations at Cabul, which ended in the Retreat and Destruction of the British Army, January 1842. EYRE, LIEUT. VINCENT. Stock ID: 62872 Folding plan of the cantonment and the surrounding country with two small somewhat crudely repaired tears, xx + 330pp, appendix. Original blind stamped cloth, gilt pictorial upper cover, binding a little skewed, cloth torn with loss at head and tail of spine, lacks half title, bookplate of a prior owner front paste down. The appendix lists the civil and military officers killed at and near Cabul. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 62872) ... more	AU$250.00
	A Short History of Afghanistan. ALI, MOHAMMED. Stock ID: 70034 Map, black and white illustrations, ii + 39pp, endpapers foxed, edges browned, wrappers very soiled, browned and worn, spine chipped with loss, contents sound. Discusses early, medieval and modern history. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 70034) ... more	AU$25.00
	Pashtun Tales. From the Pakistan-Afghan Border. AHMAD, AISHA, AND ROGER BOASE. Stock ID: 123267 Colour plates, 368pp, notes, glossary, bibliography, index, paperback. These oral tales were collected in the tribal areas on the Pakistan-Afghan frontier, a region described as the last free place on earth. It was here that the caravan routes from Persia, India and China once converged. With their blend of wit, fantasy, comedy and romance, they reflect the Pashtun code of honour and way of life that are now seriously threatened by social changes and recent political events. Most of them, such as the epic tale of Hazrat Ali, have never been recorded before, and might otherwise have been lost forever. Some are recognisable as universal types, such as a version of "Androcles and the Lion" and of the tale that provided Shakespeare with the plot of "King Lear". (When referring to this item please quote stockid 123267) ... more	AU$32.00
	Modern Afghanistan. A History of Struggle and Survival. SAIKAL, AMIN. Stock ID: 98204 Maps, ix + 342pp, notes, bibliography, index, paperback. In reconstructing the tempestuous narrative of modern Afghanistan, Amin Saikal provides a sweeping new understanding of its troubled past. He identifies the country's inability to develop stable political structures as stemming from the inter-dynastic rivalry (exacerbated by polygamy) that scarred successive royal families from the end of the eighteenth century until the pro-Communist coup of April 1978. Outside interventions further weakened the country internally, preventing socio-economic development and leaving the country ripe for the politics of ideological extremism. "Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival" is the definitive study of Afghanistan and its troubles. It will be vital reading for all those who are interested in the changing politics of the Middle East and Central Asia. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 98204) ... more	AU$45.00
	Afghanistan Diary 1992-2000. GRAZDA, EDWARD. Stock ID: 92374 A striking black and white photographic report of Afghanistan under the Taliban with short accompanying texts, laminated pictorial boards, trifle worn otherwise as new. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 92374) ... more	AU$29.95 WAS AU$69.95
	The War in Afghanistan. HUXLEY, TIM. Stock ID: 123862 Basic Paper, No. 15, 1983. Map, 48pp, quarto, little wear to paper wrappers, a good copy. Contents include: The Background to the Conflict; The Balance of Forces in Afghanistan; A Prognosis; Implications for the West and Australia. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 123862) ... more	AU$30.00
	A Thousand Splendid Suns. HOSSEINI, KHALED. Stock ID: 101928 372pp, paperback. This book presents the story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely bond and an indestructible love. This is the story of an unusual and lifelong friendship between two Afghan women, spanning from the idyllic mid 1950s to post-September 11 Kabul. Bound by tragedy and fate, by political circumstance and custom, the two women live through the Soviet war, the harrowing days of the Afghan civil war and the rule of the Taliban. Yet even as their world unravels around them and innocence is shattered, they find that there, amidst the ruins, is the possibility for hope, meaning and unexpected grace. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 101928) ... more	AU$32.95
	The Races of Afghanistan, Being A Brief Account of the Principal Nations Inhabiting that Country. BELLEW, H.W. Stock ID: 51228 124pp, index, ex Parliamentary library, gilt library stamp upper cover and tail of spine but no other library markings, half morocco binding, marbled endpapers and edges. Spine worn particularly on raised bands and joints, marbled edges and endpapers, title page and first and last blanks foxed. A sound not unattractive copy. "The author was a medical officer of the East India Company and was employed almost exclusively on the North West Frontier of India, in Kashmir and Afghanistan. In 1857 he was a member of Lumsden's mission to Kandahar, a member of F. Pollock's mission to Sistan in South East Persia in 1871-2, and finally a member of Douglas Forsyth's mission to Yarkand in 1873. He collected the material contained in this book during these journeys and during his stay in Kabul as chief political officer on the staff of R. Roberts. .. This volume is the preliminary study he made in preparation for his later work 'An Inquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan". Yakushi B121. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 51228) ... more	AU$850.00
	Journal of a Political Mission to Afghanistan, in 1857, Under Major (Now Colonel) Lumsden, with an Account of the Country and People. BELLEW, H.W. Stock ID: 52036 8 full page chromolithographs, xv + 480pp, appendix, neat ex-Parliamentary library gilt stamp at foot of spine but no other library markings. Half calf binding, marbled paper covered boards and endpapers. Errata slip present. Leather on spine darkened and somewhat crazed, endpapers, tissue guards and adjacent pages foxed, plates foxed in margin but images mainly clean. The text is particularly clean and fresh with only very occasional spots of foxing. Yakushi B115. Henry Walter Bellow describes the country and people of Afghanistan in the first part of this work and follows this with an account of mission under Major Lumsden. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 52036) ... more	AU$3,000.00
	Hidden Afghanistan. CAMBON, PIERRE. Stock ID: 122998 Maps, wonderfully illustrated with colour photographic illustrations, 288pp, bibliography, index, paperback. At a time when Kabul city was in the flames of war, some political and cultural personalities of the country understood the historical values of the artefacts held in the Kabul National Museum and decided to take them out of the museum showcases and transfer them to safe places, considering these artefacts did not only tell the story of Afghanistan's past but they also belong to the cultural heritage of the world community. This treasury is a testimony that Afghanistan played a brilliant part in the development and growth of human civilization long ago. This book is a pictorial record of the exhibition of the Bactrian Treasury and was exhibited in Amsterdam. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 122998) ... more	AU$105.00
	The Great Gamble. The Soviet War in Afghanistan. FEIFER, GREGORY. Stock ID: 128161 Map, black and white photographic illustrations, 326pp, notes, bibliography, index, dustjacket. The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a grueling debacle that has striking lessons for the twenty-first century. In The Great Gamble, Gregory Feifer examines the conflict from the perspective of the soldiers on the ground. During the last years of the Cold War, the Soviet Union sent some of its most elite troops to unfamiliar lands in Central Asia to fight a vaguely defined enemy, which eventually defeated their superior numbers with unconventional tactics. Although the Soviet leadership initially saw the invasion as a victory, many Russian soldiers came to view the war as a demoralizing and devastating defeat, the consequences of which had a substantial impact on the Soviet Union and its collapse. Feifer's extensive research includes eye-opening interviews with participants from both sides of the conflict. In gripping detail, he vividly depicts the invasion of a volatile country that no power has ever successfully conquered. Parallels between the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq are impossible to ignore. Both conflicts were waged amid vague ideological rhetoric about freedom. Both were roundly condemned by the outside world for trying to impose their favored forms of government on countries with very different ways of life. And both seem destined to end on uncertain terms. A groundbreaking account seen through the eyes of the men who fought it, The Great Gamble tells an unforgettable story full of drama, action, and political intrigue whose relevance in our own time is greater than ever. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 128161) ... more	AU$49.99
	The Carpet Wars. KREMMER, CHRISTOPHER. Stock ID: 122904 Map, black and white illustrations, notes, bibliography, index, paperback. This tells of foreign correspondent Christopher Kremmer's, fascinating and timely account of over a decade spent living, travelling, and reporting from Asia, and the Middle East. During this time he formed an obsession with carpets and the 'perfect rug' - an obsession that saw him trace the threads of carpet making throughout the East. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 122904) ... more	AU$24.99
	Stones into Schools. Promoting Peace with Books, not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. MORTENSON, GREG. Stock ID: 132399 Maps, colour photographic illustrations, xvi + 421 pages, index, glossary, paperback. In this dramatic first-person narrative, Greg Mortenson picks up where "Three Cups of Tea" left off in 2003, recounting his relentless, ongoing efforts to establish schools for girls in Afghanistan; his extensive work in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan after a massive earthquake hit the region in 2005; and the unique ways he has built relationships with Islamic clerics, militia commanders, and tribal leaders even as he was dodging shootouts with feuding Afghan warlords and surviving an eight-day armed abduction by the Taliban. He shares for the first time his broader vision to promote peace through education and literacy, as well as touching on military matters, Islam, and women - all woven together with the many rich personal stories of the people who have been involved in this remarkable two-decade humanitarian effort. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 132399) ... more	AU$26.95
	Taliban. The Power of Militant Islam in Afghanistan and Beyond. RASHID, AHMED. Stock ID: 132774 Maps, xii + 319 pages, index, notes, appendices, paperback. The American bombing of terrorist bases in Afghanistan under the protection of the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement has brought the Taliban into sharp focus as the most radical and extreme Islamic movement in the world today. Little is known about the Taliban because of the deep secrecy that surrounds their political movement, their leaders and their aims. The geo-strategic implications of the Taliban are already creating severe instability in Russia, Iran and the five Central Asian republics where the Taliban have become a major player in the new Great Game, as Western countries and companies compete to build oil and gas pipelines from Central Asia to Western and Asian markets. The Taliban's implementation of their extreme interpretation of Islam poses new challenges to the Muslim world and the West's understanding of radical Islam in the post-Cold War era. 'Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game' was runner-up in the prestigious annual British-Kuwait Friendship Society Prize, administered by the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. Revised 2008, has sold over 750,000 copies in 22 languages. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 132774) ... more	AU$25.00
	The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif. MAZARI, NAJAF AND ROBERT HILLMAN. Stock ID: 119603 Map, black and white photographic plates, 262pp, glossary and notes. The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif traces the extraordinary story of an Afghani refugee's amazing journey from shepherd boy in the mountains of northern Afghanistan, his flight from torture and certain death by the Taliban, to owner of a successful traditional rug shop in Melbourne. His story begins with him in the infamous Woomera Detention Centre in the remote desert country of central Australia. This is the first book-length account of an asylum seeker in Australia to be exquisitely captured in his own voice. From the compelling opening sentence to the beautiful final chapter, Najaf's integrity, his extraordinary optimism and his generosity of spirit will win the hearts and minds of all readers. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 119603) ... more	AU$24.95