Photo: Zuma press/ Imago Images
Ahmed Rashid’s bestselling 2000 book Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia was used extensively by American analysts in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The Lahore-based journalist and writer has been covering the wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan since 1979 and has been an outspoken critic of the Bush Administration in relation to the Iraq war and the neglect he believes this led to in terms of the Taliban.
Rashid was a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review for more than 20 years, and now writes for many foreign and Pakistani newspapers. Rashid appears in the series Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror, currently screening on Netflix.
Taliban members pose for a photo after they took over Panjshir Valley, the only province the group had not seized during its sweep last month in Afghanistan on September 6, 2021. Photo: AFP / 2021 Anadolu Agency
