The Most Dangerous Place: Pakistan's Lawless Frontier |  | Author: Imtiaz Gul
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $13.00
as of 9/8/2010 04:20 CDT details
You Save: $13.95 (52%)
New (36) Used (8) from $12.70
Seller: Dogberto's Bookshop
Rating:  5 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st American Edition
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 067002225X
Dewey Decimal Number: 954.91053
EAN: 9780670022250
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780670022250 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The story of the dark side of the Afghan war - and how Pakistan degenerated into a nuclear-armed powder keg
Eight years ago we chased the Taliban from Kabul and forced Al Qaeda to find a new home. One by one the militants crossed the border into Pakistan and settled in its tribal areas, building alliances with locals and terrorizing or bribing their way to power. This place - Pakistan's lawless frontier - is now the epicenter of global terrorism. It is where young American and British jihadists go to be trained, where the kidnapped are stowed away, and where plots are hatched for deadly attacks all over the world. It has become, in President Obama's words, "the most dangerous place" - a hornet's nest of violent extremists, many of whom now target their own state in vicious suicide- bombing campaigns.
Imtiaz Gul, who knows the ins and outs of these groups and their leaders, tackles the toughest questions about the current situation: What can be done to bring the Pakistani Taliban under control? Who funds these militants and what are their links to Al Qaeda? Are they still supported by the ISI, Pakistan's all-powerful intelligence agency?
Based on dozens of exclusive interviews with high-ranking Pakistani intelligence, government and military officers and extensive first-hand reporting, The Most Dangerous Place is a gripping and definitive exposé of a region that Americans need urgently to understand.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 A 'must' for any who would understand the region and its conflicts! August 14, 2010
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
Imtiaz Gul's THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE: PAKISTAN'S LAWLESS FRONTIER provides a fine survey of the consequences of the war against Al Qaeda, telling how Pakistan's tribal areas have been impacted and have become the epicenter of global terrorism. It surveys the Pakistan Taliban and comes from a reporter who has long surveyed these groups for local and international media - and thus knows their key players and intelligence and military sources. A 'must' for any who would understand the region and its conflicts!
A Thorough and Comprehensive Narrative June 13, 2010
Man of La Book (NJ USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Disclaimer - The book I read is an advanced uncorrected proof which I received for free.
The book gets its title from a speech President Obama made on March, 2009: "For the American people, this border region has become the most dangerous place in the world,"
This scrupulous coverage of Pakistan was written by the knowledgeable Imtiaz Gul. The author does not only quote reference material but also an array of impressive personas he personally spoke to. For me, the element of personal knowledge gave this book immense credibility and I ultimately viewed the author's insights as expert opinions.
Mr. Gul is certainly an expert on the subject and breezes through acronyms, even though to his credit he explains who they are / were several times in the narrative - for those who need more information there is a comprehensive synopsis of militants and organizations in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
This is the first book I read on the subject and, for me, it was a difficult read. Even though I highly recommend the book as a guide to everyone from civilians to policy makers, I don't think it is a good first-book because of the exhausting information thrown at the reader at blazing speed. At times the book left the narrative and threw lists of dates of certain events at the unknowledgeable reader.
However, if you are already familiar with the subject of Pakistan, this book would be an excellent edition to your library of knowledge and a great resource to anyone needing a thorough and comprehensive narrative.
Complications Complicating Complications June 24, 2010
Elizabeth, the Traveler (Atlanta, Georgia) (Atlanta, GA United States)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
For anyone following the news over the past decade this was not really such a difficult book. It was written by a reporter, working in several countries who has "been there" for 25 years, 2 years ago at the Marriott bombing. He does not intrude too many times, but will not avoid quoting someone he has interviewed from time to time. What a tangled situation this is. Pakistan, Afghanistan, India with the US stirred in the middle. It seems appropriate to be writing this just as Mc
Chrystal has been fired. What a difficult set of decisions Obama is having to make.
In the end one cannot help hear the echo of the refrain that has been with the US effort ever since Bush marched us in on October 7, 9/11, less than a month after the Twin Towers came down. If the English and Russia, most recently could not occupy Afghanistan why think that we can. And what a variety of ways Pakistan is tied to thie difficult neighbor.
This is an essential book. It is up to date as the current newspaper or internet posting. There are no answers, but the background data will be necessary for the next series of events.
I strongly recommend this book.
An Intel briefing from the ground August 16, 2010
Frank (USA)
In some sense, this is book is mandatory for specialist to be of the South Asia conundrum. There are so many arm groups in Pakistan, call them, vigilantes self defense, militias, terrorists or insurgents, that to get in a sense for the region is a little difficult for beginners. The author teaches about the tribes and sub tribes, their alliances, necessities and grievances. It might turn boring at the beginning with an endless description of bad news - real bad news: hundreds of kidnappings, thousands of killings and casualties of military, police, civilians. On the other hand, that same continuity of how mess up Pakistan has been - worse than before at least since 2006 - gives you clarity and a sense of alarm of the situation. The problem it brought for Pakistan the ill planned US led incursion in Afghanistan. Pakistan's tribal areas, the so-called Federal Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) give you a sense of how the region has become the home to more or lees of thousands of militants which had had some forms of control of certain areas while the government turn a blind eye.
It rise a lot of questions, give some answers about the relation and rivalry between the civilian government, the military, the intelligence establishment, the more than ten arms groups, foreing and domestic combine, with their different agendas and outlooks. Pakistan legendary sponsor of the "Militants" as he calls them, mainly against India is cover. The book no doubt, is indispensable for the Pakistan readers/international security expert or students interested in the region in general or those interested on how and where Al qaeda, and the Afghan Taliban went.
 Not For Your Reading Pleasure August 27, 2010
Daniel H. Bigelow (Cathlamet, WA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Don't mistake this book for a popular history -- Imtiaz Gul's short but fact-packed book about the recent history and current state of the Afghan/Pakistan frontier is more of a reference than a read. As a list of the players and an overview of the state of play in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, it can't be beat - though the fluidity of the current situation will likely date the book quickly. But I found plowing through the author's dry presentation a challenge.
Gul's underlying theme, if theme there be (as I said, this is more of a reference than a story), is that American distrust in Pakistan's commitment to battling Taliban and Al Qaeda enemies sheltering in Pakistan, while once founded, is no longer justified. He points to increasing Pakistani military response to local militants, and to Taliban attacks on Pakistani authorities, as evidence that whatever relationships may once have been between Islamic fundamentalists and the Pakistan government, they have now soured to the point that Americans can count on Pakistani help fighting militants within its borders. He makes a persuasive case in some respects -- Pakistan can hardly be expected to put up with attacks on its soldiers and policemen -- but cannot dispel all doubt, since he records a number of truces made between Pakistan and Taliban elements based on their promise not to attack the institutions of Pakistan. This leaves such elements with the option of crossing the porous border to Afghanistan and attacking Western elements there, using Pakistan as a base.
But mostly, this is a list of FATA areas, the fundamentalists most active in them, their leaders, their relations with each other, and their likely sources of funding and support. I'm glad I read it, even though I found Gul's blocks of information hard to absorb: I'm now familiar enough with the contents that the next time I need to find out something about Pakistan's FATA or its response to Al Qaeda infiltration, I'll know to reach for The Most Dangerous Place and have the facts at my fingertips.
|
|
|
|
