Schemathings

Just finished reading I got from my Dad for Christmas. I suppose a lot of people read up on Afghani/Pakistani culture immediately after 9/11 to gain some understanding of what might drive people to commit such an attack on America. I decided to read to gain some historical perspective on the region as well as my normal ‘hot spots’ resource – . I believe there is a TV show based on the latter book at this point, not sure – I don’t get to watch much TV.

So The Warlord’s Son was a nice refresher on the region – the story is about a print journalist who flies to Peshawar to cover the region immediately after 9/11 – I’m not into spoilers, but I found the story to be well informed and very engaging as a thriller.

Most interesting to me was the anthropological angle of Pashtun culture – the Pashtunwali code – malmastiya and nanataway – the obligation to provide safe harbor to visitors who come in peace. I met a 7-11 owner a few months after 9/11 – he was Pashtun (there are no nationalities if you are Pashtun !) and I was very impressed by his straightforwardness and clarity about world politics – it was a refreshing meeting during a period of intense bombast on our TV. We spoke for several hours about the region he came from, the history of other countries fighting over Khyber Pass to guarantee trade access through the mountains between whatever-istan it happens to be in the current century.

Anyway, I’m rambling – read the book – it’s good!