Games Without Rules

The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan

By: Tamim Ansary

Narrated by: Tamim Ansary

Today, most Westerners still see the war in Afghanistan as a contest between democracy and Islamist fanaticism. That war is real, but it sits atop an older struggle between Kabul and the countryside, between order and chaos, between a modernist impulse to join the world and the pull of an older Afghanistan - a tribal universe of village republics permeated by Islam.

Now, Tamim Ansary draws on his Afghan background, Muslim roots, and Western and Afghan sources to explain history from the inside out and to illuminate the long, internal struggle that the outside world has never fully understood. It is the story of a nation struggling to take form, a nation undermined by its own demons while every 40 to 60 years a great power disrupts whatever progress has been made. Related in storytelling style, Games Without Rules provides revelatory insight into a country at the center of political debate.

Tamim Ansary is the award-winning author of Destiny Disrupted and West of Kabul, East of New York. He has been a major contributing writer to several secondary-school history textbooks offering an Islamic perspective.

©2012 Tamim Ansary (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc

Critic reviews

"A breezy, accessible overview of centuries of messy Afghan history, including the present military quagmire…. Lively instruction on how Afghanistan has coped, and continues to cope, with being a strategic flash point." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"In Games Without Rules, Tamim Ansary has written the most engaging, accessible and insightful history of Afghanistan. With gifted prose and revealing details, Ansary gives us the oft-neglected Afghan perspective of the wars, foreign meddling, and palace intrigue that has defined the past few centuries between the Indus and Oxus. This brilliant book should be required reading for anyone involved in the current war there - and anyone who wants to understand why Afghanistan will not be at peace anytime soon." (Rajiv Chandrasekaran, author of Little America: The War within the War for Afghanistan)

Both history and perspective from a guy who knows both extremely well.

His own family history life experience and education uniquely qualifies him to tell the story of Afghanistan like nobody else can. Details are great but the ability to provide perspective is what makes this book a must for anyone interested in Afghanistan.

Fantastic story and narration!

I think as you read (or listen) to this book, you realize just how often the country of Afghanistan is reacting to its neighbors, and how much its neighbors have influenced its growth (or destruction). But what is different, is the book is written from an Afghan perspective. You see just how much external factors have affected the country. First the British (through British India) with their repeated and destructive invasions, then the Communists and eventually the Russians, and most recently the Pakistani's with their proxy The Taliban. There was the glimmer of home from the 1930s through the 1960s, where you get the feeling that things were beginning to go in the right direction, slowly, grudgingly, despite the repeated coups, that with a firm hand, perhaps this country could move forward, and then BAM, the Communists take over, Dawud Khan and his family are killed, and then everything slides almost irreversibly downhill. You know the rest after that. The description of the formation of the Taliban, religious fundamentalists aided by foreign governments taking advantage of a people whose families, culture and society has been destroyed, and creating this even more destructive force almost makes one lose hope.

I have to say, the narration is brilliant, as it is the author himself. I think he could read the phone book in Kabul, and I would listen to the whole thing. Assuming there are phone books in Kabul...

Only a couple of things I wanted more information on: how is it that the Afghan culture was so much more conservative from an religious perspective than its neighbors in Iran or India. I would also have loved to see more insight on the internal differences and squabbles within Afghanistan (Sunni vs. Shi'a, Pashto vs. Everyone else) and to what extent that has affected the situations above.

ABSOLUTELY A MUST LISTEN

Just finished the book.
I highly recommend listening to this book for anyone who is interested in history and in general for people who want to learn more about Afghanistan. That story is far from over and it is a very important part in our world.
I watched a YouTube documentary on Afghanistan, very informative, the people are hospitable and very handsome.
Mr. Tamim Ansary is outstanding as an author as well as a narrator.
As usual, my thanks to all involved, JK.

Excellent book

I’m a westerner that was looking for a deeper understanding of the Afghanistan culture and the wars that have been fought thus far. I wanted a guide to help me come to my own conclusion of where we are headed after exiting. The author has deep understanding of both Afghanistan and the USA. Very fairly written and unbiased towards our US political views.

great

great listen. last chapter was a cop out. but overall highly recommend. I learned so much.

This author teaches important lessons

Not only is Tamim Ansary a good writer, he is a wonderful narrator. I have learned so much about Afghanistan and it is a microcosm of the entire world and the social interactions.

Very enlightening read

As an Afghan born in Kabul and raised in Europe, this book has been an incredible source of info. It systematically and very neutrality answers a lot of big questions about the ongoing wars and foreign economical and political stakes. It is common knowledge that the US and Western powers have an interest in maintaining instability there and this book explains the WHY without falling into stigmatization.

I would highly recommend this read to any Western country politician because there is a clear win win to be sought if Afghanistan was better understood.

A brilliant writer and narrator

If you could sum up Games Without Rules in three words, what would they be?

Honest, fascinating, surprising

Any additional comments?

Like Ansary's equally brilliant book on the history of Islam, "Game Without Rules" tells what we once thought of as a well known story from a totally fresh perspective. An invaluable companion to Steve Coll's "Ghost Wars"

I hope that there is a 2nd part of this history

History from someone who has an Afghan perspective. I hope that there is an updated book about the period from 2012 to 2021 forthcoming.

Loved it!

I loved the final modern portion. I spent 2 deployments with the Navy Seabees in Afghanistan workinf with local artisans and love the culture. I havent been back in 5 years but its great to hear from someone who is native how it is coming back.