Tariq Ali's Forthcoming Book

[Peter K.]

In the March/April 2000 issue of New Left Review, Ali has a
great, combined review of
John Cooley's _Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and
International Terrorism_ and Ahmed Rashid's _Taliban: Islam, Oil
and the New Great Game in Central Asia_. "The Taliban have their
own goal  for the region -- a Federation of Islamic Republics
that would enforce a *pax Talibana* from Samarkaland to Karachi.
They now control sufficient resources from the heroin trade to
fund their land campaigns. But they want access to the sea and
have made no secret of their belief that Pakistan with its
nuclear arms will fall to them one day. They know they enjoy
strong support at the lowest and highest level of the Pakistani
Army. Lt. Gen. Mohammed Aziz, Chief of the General Staff, and Lt.
Gen. Mahmoud Ahmed, the Director of the ISI, the two senior
commanders who currently flank Pakistan's more secular-minded
military dictator, Pervaiz Musharraf, are well-known for their
Taliban sympathies."


>Tariq Ali's forthcoming book, The Clash of Fundamentalisms
(Verso 2002) has
>a brilliant photo of Bush on the cover:
>
>http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1859846793.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
>
>
>Vikash Yadav
>Philadelphia, PA
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