Author: DAVID LOYN
Title: Butcher and Bolt
Description: Hutchinson, 2008. Gekartonneerd met stofomslag. Pp: 351. First 'butcher' them, then 'bolt': this was the common sneer about what British soldiers did in the1890s to Afghan frontier tribes they were trying to subdue. Afghanistan's inhospitable terrain has witnessed violent conflicts for two centuries, as different empires have tried to establish a foothold there - battles which continue with the Taliban today. Butcher and Bolt tells the story of foreign engagement in Afghanistan, beginning with the first British mission exactly 200 years ago - the bizarre, almost medieval progress of Mountstuart Elphinstone, who probed west beyond the known boundaries of British India to find the Amir of Afghanistan clad in an emerald breastplate, wearing the Koh-i-Noor diamond. At the end of the 19th century, there was another key encounter between a British emissary and an Afghan Amir, when Henry Mortimer Durand came to Kabul to draw up a new border, taking British influence deep into the mountains of the Frontier region, to control,the passes into Afghanistan in case of a Russian attack. The 'Durand line' divided families and tribes, and remains a source of continuing instability, providing a sanctuary for the Taliban across the Pakistan border. In the late 20th century, Western emissaries came again to Peshawar, the frontier town where Elphinstone held his first meeting. Most prominent among them was Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson, who sat in his hotel room, whisky glass in hand, with his girlfriend, a beauty queen called Snowflake, handing out suitcases full of money to the Islamic psychopath Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to fight the Russians. Between these three encounters lies a history littered with misunderstandings and broken promises, where the Russian and the British, and later the Americans, constantly under-estimated the ability of the Afghans and the power of the Frontier tribes. Butcher and Bolt is not an Afghan history, rather it is an account of Afghanistan's international engagement with the world, particularly with Russia, the US and Britain. It brings to life the personalities involved in Afghanistan's relationship with the world, chronicling the misunderstandings and missed opportunities that have so often led to war. A brilliant account by the award-winning BBC journalist David Loyn, who still reports from the region, it powerfully analyses the lessons these conflicts have for the present day. ISBN: 9780091921408. Cond./Kwaliteit: Goed.

Keywords: 9780091921408


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