"Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia"

In collaboration with the 1st Year Reading Program and the Office of Provost

8:00 PM Thursday, October 09, 2008
University Center Ballroom

A leading authority on the Taliban, Ahmed Rashid will discuss his latest book, Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of a Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia (2008). He will explain why the American-dominated status quo in that part of the world has been helpless in stemming the resurgence of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

"The Strength, Appeal, and Prospects of al-Qaeda Today"

Faculty-Student Seminar (in collaboration with the First-Year Reading Program and the Office of the Provost)

3:40 PM Thursday, October 09, 2008
University Center Theatre

You are cordially invited to attend a seminar with Ahmed Rashid. Born in Pakistan in 1948 and educated at Cambridge University, he has been covering the politics of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia for thirty years. He has written articles for the Financial Times, The Guardian, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph, The International Herald Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, and “BBC Online.” He regularly appears on NPR, CNN, and the BBC World Service, and “The Lehrer News Hour.” His first book came out in 1994, A Resurgence of Central Asia. Appearing soon after the breakup of the Soviet Union, it established his reputation as a leading authority on Central Asia. His next book, Taliban: Islam, Oil, and the New Great Game (2000), became a New York Times bestseller. More than 1.5 million copies of this book have been sold in twenty-two languages. In Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia (2002), he examined the reasons why the Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan pose especially dangerous threats to global security. Chief among these reasons are religious repression, political corruption, and extreme poverty with unemployment rates surpassing eighty percent in many areas. In his most recent book, Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation-Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia (2008), he explains why the American-dominated status quo in that part of the world has been helpless in stemming the resurgence of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.