On the Road to Kandahar: Travels through conflict in the Islamic World
Jason Burke
- England Allen Lane 2006
- 291 pages HB
In the summer of 1991 Jason Burke set off to join Kurdish guerillas fighting in Iraq. It turned out to be the start of a remarkable journey that would take him from the sands of the Sahara to the highest peaks of the Himalayas, seeing at first hand life and death, war and peace, bigotry and tolerance, hate and friendship throughout the 'Islamic World'. On the Road to Kandahar is the honest, fascinating story of how he has travelled in search of answers to perhaps the most important issues of our time: how should we understand Islam, and Islamic radicalism?
His journey is intellectual and personal; a journey of human encounters with hundreds of people, ranging from destitute refugees to senior government ministers, from American snipers to hardened 'mujahideen'. It is a voyage into history and into the powerful ideas, ideologies and myths that have so often determined, for good or ill, the interaction of the West and the world of Islam. It is also a journey through the reality of the modern media and the reality of modern war.
Yet Burke's conclusions are fundamentally optimistic. Though the strategy pursued in 'the War on Terror' has often been tragically flawed, the weapon that will prevail against militancy, Burke finds, is the essential moderation, sense and basic humanity of those he meets.
On the Road to Kandahar is vivid and enjoyable, but it is also important. It allows us to see, in all its variety and contradiction, a broad swathe of the planet that we urgently need to understand better.
£20.00 Publication details: 958.1
shamuston - Desta travel
BKSK MEMILLA
397
DEPARTMENT OF POXITION SCIE
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1
Buake, Jehn-Travel-17ha nistan
ALLEN LANE
BROTHER
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