Last updated November 12, 2001 19:32 EST
Southwest Asia: Where, Who, What, Why?
In the weeks since September 11th, the 'action' has moved from the US to Southwest Asia, where Osama bin Laden had been based. Afghanistan, which attracted a great deal of attention in the last days of the Cold War during the Soviet occupation, is once again the cynosure of all eyes. Unfortunately, most of us do not know very much about Afghanistan, or the surrounding region. We do not know where these countries are, who lives there and we remember little of their recent history.
Basic resources on the region
Washington Post map of Afghanistan and its neighbourhood, September 20, 2001.
World Atlas Afghanistan Asia locator map and information page
New York Times map of Afghanistan and Pakistan, October 3, 2001.
The geography of war in maps and graphics, The Times.
Historical background
The Afghan War (1978-92), Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.
The Afghan Civil War, Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.
The bloodstained history of Afghanistan, by Ben Macintyre, The Times, October 5 2001.
Southwest Asia, the events of September 11th and thereafter
Black Tuesday: The View From Islamabad by Pervez Hoodbhoy, September 17, 2001
Few Options For Pakistan, Najam Sethi, Outlook India, October 8, 2001.
Pakistan's Hobson's Choice, by Rifaat Hussain, Dawn, October 3, 2001.
Understanding Afghanistan
Resources on Afghanistan from the Asian Educational Media Service, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
De-mythologising Afghanistan, by Najam Sethi, The Friday Times, Sept 28-Oct 4, 2001
Ground Zero-II: The Inside Story from Tashkent and Peshawar. By Serajiddin Tolibov, Outlook India, October 8, 2001.
Pakistan's General Musharraf and the Taliban, by Ahmed Rashid, February 2, 2000.
An interview with Ahmed Rashid, Radio Netherlands, 13 December, 2000
In Afghanistan, A Culture of War, by Peter Baker, Washington Post, September 30, 2001.
Afghanistan and its neighbours: The perpetual vortex, The Economist, September 27, 2001.
In New Glare, Questions Dog Afghan Rebels, by David Rohde with John Burns, New York Times, October 7, 2001.
Afghanistan After the Taliban, by Olivier Roy, New York Times, October 7, 2001.
Terror Unlimited, by Rohan Gunaratna, Frontline, Volume 18 - Issue 20, Sep. 29 - Oct. 12, 2001. About Al Qaeda.
Letter from Afghanistan: Across the divide, by William T. Vollmann, New Yorker, Issue of 2000-05-15 Posted 2001-09-19.
Why it isn't easy for Taliban to show the door to Osama, by Tyler Marshall, Times of India, October 12, 2001.
'Great Game' reenacted, by Muhammad Abbas, Frontier Post, October 11, 2001.
Will the new war be different? by Rasul Baksh Rais, The News, October 13, 2001.
Inside the Taliban, by Ahmed Rashid, Far Eastern Economic Review, October 18, 2001.
Taliban Afghanistan: Image and governance, Himal South Asian, April 2000.
When Osama met the Taliban, by Ken Silverstein, Slate, October 9, 2001.
Reporter's Notebook: Life Lessons The Owl and the Value of Life By Don Dahler, ABC News, October 12, 2001.
Oh! for a bit of commonsense, by MB Naqvi, The News, October 24, 2001.
Afghanistan,
not always a battlefield, by Paula J Dobriansky, The News, October 31, 2001.
And Kashmir....
An Ally's Terrorism, by Jim Hoagland, Washington Post, October 3, 2001.
Who are the Kashmir militants? BBC News South Asia, August 10, 2001. Also, The perpetrators, by Shujaat Bukhari, The Hindu, October 7, 2001.
Farooq breaks down, calls for war against Pak., by Shujaat Bukhari, The Hindu, October 4, 2001. Will it ever end? by Shujaat Bukhari, The Hindu, October 7, 2001.
America's precarious ally, The Economist, October 3, 2001.
When the Enemy of Your Enemy Is Your Friend's Enemy, by Barbara Crossette, New York Times, October 7, 2001.
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