Night Letters by Chris Sands

Night Letters by Chris Sands

In 1969, several young men met on a rainy night in Kabul to form an Islamist student group. Their aim was laid out in a simple typewritten statement: to halt the spread of Soviet and American influence in Afghanistan. They went on to change the world. 'Night Letters' tells the extraordinary story of the group’s most notorious member, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and the guerrilla organisation he came to lead, Hizb-e Islami. By the late 1980s, tens of thousands were drawn to Hekmatyar’s vision of a radical Islamic state that would sow unrest from Kashmir to Jerusalem. His doctrine of violent global jihad culminated in 9/11 and the birth of ISIS, yet he never achieved his dream of ruling Afghanistan. The peace deal he signed with Kabul in 2016 was yet another controversial twist in an astonishing life. Sands and Qazizai delve into the secret history of Hekmatyar and Hizb-e Islami: their wars against Russian and American troops, and their bloody and bitter feuds with domestic enemies. Based on hundreds of exclusive interviews carried out across the region and beyond, this is the definitive account of the most important, yet poorly understood, international Islamist movement of the last fifty years.

'Night Letters is a treasure trove of political and military detailFor those involved with Afghanistan it is a must read. … Sands and Qazizai have produced one of the most thorough histories of modern Afghanistan.'

-- Asian Affairs

Chris Sands is a British freelance journalist who has been working in Afghanistan since 2005. Based there permanently for nine years, he continues to travel to Kabul.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781787381964
ISBN 10	178738196X
Title	Night Letters
Author	Chris Sands
Condition	Unavailable
Publisher	C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
Year published	2019-10-31
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable