Descent into

Chaos , Ahmed
Rashid, Allen
Lane,2008.ISBN No
.978-1-846-14175-1

Book Review
Major A.H Amin
(Retired)

11 October 2008
Ahmed Rashid acquired fame and became
darling of the west when his book on
Taliban was published in 2000 or
so.Descent into Chaos is another
bestseller as far as publishing statistics is
concerned.It is a tragedy that the
West,guardian of the present worlds
intellectual property projects what suits
its political and social interests and stifles
what it finds “ politically
unacceptable”.Seen in this background
what Ahmed Rashid writes is acceptable
to the west.Possibly because what he
says fits hand in glove with western
perceptions about how to shape the
future.

As normal the book has some factual

errors.Some insignificant some not so
insignificant and some which not have
escaped the sagacity of a known
Afghanistan hand like Ahmed Rashid.

The Ghilzai revolt started not in 1701 as

stated on page.7 but in 1709.The
Durranis did not move the capital to
Kabul in 1772 as stated on page.7 but in
1774 if we agree with Sayed Qasem
Reshtia a great Afghan historian or 1775
if we believe Louis Dupree who is
concerned the most reliable western
historian.On page.8 Ahmed Rashid states
that the British tried to conquer
Afghanistan three times.This is not
correct.It happened twice if we include
the English East India Company and once
if we include the Second Afghan War of
1878-80.In the Third Afghan War it were
the Afghans who tried to attack India and
miserably failed and the British launched
some very local offensive actions at Spin
Boldak and Khyber Agency to push back
the Afghans.On page.9 Rashid promotes
Major General Naseerullah Babar to
lieutenant general rank.On page.11 he
states that for first time in 300 years the
Afghan capital Kabul fell in non Pashtun
hands once Ahmad Shah Masud captured
it.This is quite incorrect.The first time
Afghanistan’s capital fell in Non Pashtun
hands was once the Persian Qazalbash
Nadir Shah captured Kandahar the then
capital of Ghiljai Pashtuns on 24 March
1738 some 224 years before 1992 and
Kabul on 29 June 1738 again some 223
years and some 10 months before April
1992.In any case we must remember
that Kabul was a Hindu province for a
long time in twelfth century and a Mughal
Indian province for some 200 plus years
long before 1992.On page 17 Rashid
states that the Pakistani FC managed
Pakistani artillery and
communications.This is factually
incorrect.The FC hardly has any artillery
and the Afghans did not require any
training in communications.In any case
the Afghans had a much larger number of
ex Afghan Army gunners with Mujahideen
quite capable of handling all types of
artillery guns of Soviet vintage available
in Afghanistan.Rashid seems to be very
friendly with US officials who throughout
his narrative keep on telling him so many
things,like on page.18 US officials tell him
that Al Qaeda was responsible for USS
Cole.On page.34 Rashid states that “ the
British conquest of Northwest India was
aimed solely at providing security from
marauding Afghan Baloch and Pashtun
tribes” .This assertion is factually
incorrect.The British company English
East India Company’s conquest of North
West India comprising modern Pakistan
was done in response to invasion of Sikhs
of British territory in 1845.At that time
the Sikhs were controlling all major
Pashtun cities like Peshawar,Bannu
,Kohat,D.I Khan etc so the question of
the Pashtun, Afghan or Baloch simply
does not arise.Musharraf was not
commissioned in the field artillery as
stated on page.45 but in the “ Self
Propelled Artillery”.On page.45 Rashid
states that in 1971 Musharraf
commanded an SSG Commando unit
which went behind the enemy lines.In
2002 I interviewed Musharrafs
Commanding Officer in 1971 Brigadier
Iqbal Nazir Warraich who confirmed that
Musharraf was a sub unit commander
under him and Musharraf’s sub unit was
not used behind enemy lines.On page.52
Rashid states that the National
Accountability Bureau (NAB) was the ISI’s
investigative arm.This is also factually
incorrect.The NAB was an independent
public body which was not independent
and not connected to ISI in any
organizational sense.On page.73 Rashid
calls Burhanuddin Rabbani a Panjsheri
Tajik which is not correct.Rabbani was
from Badakhshan province.On page.79
Rashid states that the ISI chief
(Mahmood) was forced to resign.This is
incorrect.Mahmood was simply removed
and never resigned and to date draws his
pension from the army to which an officer
who resigns his commission is not
entitled.On page 186 Rashid reduces the
distance from Kabul to Kandahar to 190
miles which is not correct.On page 193
Rashid states that the Mazar Kabul line
was financed by World Bank.This is not
correct since this electric transmission
line was a gift of Government of India to
Afghanistan.Karachi port had not serviced
transit trade for Afghanistan since 1950s
as stated on page 192 but for a long time
before that dating back to the
Kalhora,Talpur and British times.There
was a famous incident of a ship carrying
armaments for Afghanistan by the British
so that King Amanullah was militarily
weakened against Afghan rebels in late
20s.On page.259 Rashid states that the
ISI was meeting Taliban leaders in
Command and Staff College Quetta.This
is quite funny and ridiculous.Why should
the ISI meet insurgents in an academic
institution with which it has no connection
rather than in a safe house.Probably
Rashid was trying to be humorous.On
page.261 Rashid indicates that Afghan
ministers gave up their foreign
passports.My inquiries while permanently
based in Kabul from June 2004 till todate
indicate that this assertion is not
correct.On page.274 Rashid places the
Mahsud tribe in North Waziristan whereas
Mahsuds main area is South Waziristan
Agency.On page 275 Rashid states that a
murdered man’s body was found in
military handcuffs.This is a unique
discovery .My inquiries reveal that there
is no such object as military
handcuffs.The military buys handcuffs
from the open market.On page 331
Rashid states that the Afghan Tajikistan
border is 750 miles whereas my inquiries
reveal that it may be about a 100 mile
less.

Factual errors done with we move on to

the more serious assertions of Rashid.On
page.4 Rashid dismisses Mullah Omar as
a itinerant preacher who could not claim
the pedigree of Karzais.On page.13
Rashid again ridicules Mullah Omar for
being born without social status or
pedigree. I find this distinctly snobbish
coming from the pen of a leftist Ahmed
Rashid.Probably in his old age he has
become class conscious.On page 6 Rashid
states that easy to pass through the
country has been impossible to
conquer.Now this is a relative
statement.For more than 200 years most
parts of Afghanistan were provinces of
Mughal and Saffavid Empires.The
Mughals actually had a Hindu Rajput
Governor in Kabul.

On page 19 Rashid passes sweeping

judgment on Talibans when he says that
Osama Bin Laden had a clear strategy in
mind to isolate them from the world.A
more balanced and scholarly approach
may have been used.Rashid cites no
supporting sources.

Some of Rashids conclusions about

Pakistan are quite accurate.Like Pakistan
as a state being grappled with an acute
sense of insecurity.The army’s
monopolization of power in Pakistan in
the name of national security.His analysis
of the Pakistani military mindset is
penetrating and brilliant.His exposure of
of the military links of the likes of Maliha
Lodhi and Shaukat Aziz is again a breath
of fresh air.Rashids revelations about the
Pakistani intelligence agency ISIs
negative role in Pakistani politics is bold
and accurate to the dot.One may not
agree with how the USA downsized the
Afghan intelligence.My inquiries reveal
that some of the most brilliant officers of
the indomitable Khad were removed just
because the American advisors wanted to
severely reduce Russian influence.Rashids
analysis of US firm Louis Burger is
incomplete and not wholly correct.Louis
Burgers failures in delay in building of
schools was because of unprofessional
sub contracting procedures and because
of the fallacious policy of hiring only
Afghan NGOs to do the job instead of
commercial firms.Most of these NGOs
were owned by political appointees and
haphazardly formed to siphon the fruits
of US aid.I saw the whole process myself
as the Vice President of an Afghan NGO
which was building schools and clinics for
Louis Burger in 2004 and 2005 in
Helmand ,Ghazni and Kunduz.Rashid
does not have his facts correct when he
states that Louis Burger had just 9
schools and 2 clinics ready in end of
2005.The number was much larger than
this.Even in this case some Afghan NGOs
like CDU did extremely well.

Rashids conclusion that the ISI was no

longer in control of the monster of
extremism that it created are valid but
incomplete.What about the CIA and the
Saudi intelligence the real fathers of
extremism ?
On page 223 Rashid states that Pakistani
artillery gave covering fire to Taliban
militants infiltrating Afghanistan.This is
an illogical and implausible assertion.The
Talibans do not need covering fire
because a very large part of Afghanistan
Pakistan border is unmanned.The most
important stretch in Helmand and Nimroz
has hardly any Afghan NATO or US
presence at all.

Rashid is harsh on the Americans,the

Pakistanis as well as the
Afghans.However he presents no tangible
recommendations to remedy the
situation.

His analysis ignores some important

ground realities.First that the USA came
to Afghanistan to achieve certain
strategic objectives.Its aim was not
altruistic or missionary.Thus the low per
capita aid figure to USA.The US objective
at least till 2008 has been to maintain
control of about 15 plus military/air bases
.The US troop strength is far below the
minimum necessary to even ensure
security in Afghanistan.

The control of Afghanistan still lies with

the pre 1992 bureaucracy trained by the
Soviets.This includes the army,the civil
services,the police which was a real
bastion of the leftists and above all the
foreign ministry and the intelligence .All
despite various reductions and purges by
the USA and NATO.The Northern Alliance
cadres on whom the USA tried to rely dod
not simply have enough trained and
educated recruits.Thus the important
division in all Afghan Government in
between the Maslakis ( professionals) and
the Wasta dars (those who came without
sufficient qualifications).

Rashid also ignores the fact that

Pakistan’s Islamic extremism is not the
result of a sudden flight but a logical
result of misuse of religion by all major
Muslim leaders since 1858.

Rashids subject matter is vast and the

complexities with which he is trying to
deal are vast in magnitude and their
dimensions.Rashid’s analysis is subtle and
thought provoking but marred by his
extreme bias against the Taliban.This
leads him repeatedly to make pre
conceived statements and sweeping
judgements.
Nevertheless Rashids analsyis is thought
provoking and can be immensely
instrumental as a catalyst in inspiring
more research on the subject.My fear is
that Rashid’s present work is more a
commercial venture with one eye on
audience in the west.This is not the
idealistic Rashid reporting from Kabul for
the Far Eastern Economic Review.But as
they say “ things do not change,we
change”.

One may not agree with Rashids

assertion about Central Asia being the
new bastion of Al Qaeda.With Russia fast
moving in and re-asserting it may be
more difficult for the Al Qaeda to gain
ascendancy in Central Asia.The
provisional centre of gravity of the Al
Qaeda lies in non state actors in Pakistan
and the Arabian Gulf.It is going to be a
long bloody war for the USA to alter this
particular strategic situation.