Ahmed Rashid is a Pakistani journalist who has written several best-selling books on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia.
Early Life and Education
Ahmed Rashid was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan in 1948 and attended Malvern College in England from 1962 to 1966, where he earned his O and A levels. Furthermore, he studied English literature at Government College Lahore (1966–1968), where he earned a BA degree. He then went on to Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University, where he earned a BA in political science (1968-71). Cambridge University later awarded him an MA.
Writing Career
Ahmed Rashid is the author of several books, among which is titled “Taliban” (2000). This book gained worldwide recognition, having been translated into 40 languages and selling 1.5 million copies in English alone. ‘Jihad-The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia’ (2002) is another important publication that addresses the rise of militant Islam in the region. In 2010, the book “Taliban” was updated and reprinted in honour of its tenth anniversary of first publication. It has been in print for the previous fourteen years. Rashid’s subsequent book, ‘Descent into Chaos: The US and the Disaster in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia,’ was translated into 16 languages. ‘Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan,’ his most recent book, delves further into the complex geopolitical factors of the region.
The three books “Taliban,” “Descent into Chaos,” and “Pakistan on the Brink” together provide a critical analysis of the war in Afghanistan and its extensive regional impacts since 2001. Almost 400 universities and defence colleges worldwide have these books prominently listed on their course lists.
Journalism Career
Since 1979, Ahmed Rashid’s career has been defined by his comprehensive coverage of Afghanistan’s wars, as well as conflicts in Central Asia and Pakistan. He is regarded as one of the leading experts on the area in the world. ‘The Resurgence of Central Asia’, his debut book published in 1994, offered a distinctive account of the Soviet Union’s collapse from the perspective of Central Asia. From 1982 to 2004, he worked as a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review for more than twenty years. Additionally, he worked as a journalist for the Daily Telegraph (1992–2008) after working for the Independent (1986– 1992).
He currently writes for a number of prestigious publications, such as BBC Online, the Financial Times, the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, El Mundo in Spain, and newspapers in Pakistan and other countries.
Human Rights and Peacebuilding
Ahmed Rashid’s writing and investigative reporting have been effortlessly integrated with his substantial involvement in human rights movements and peace-building activities in Afghanistan. His involvement in the Geneva Process in the late 1980s, which was essential in the Soviet withdrawal, is the origin of his contributions. He was a member of a UN-led team in the 1990s that looked for ways to put an end to the bloody civil conflict between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. Rashid is a scholar at the World Economic Forum in Davos, a member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch’s Asia section, and a member of the Advisory Board of Eurasia Net of the Soros Foundation.
He was named to the International Committee of the Red Cross’s Board of Advisers in Geneva in 2004.
Awards and Recognition
Ahmed Rashid has garnered multiple awards and distinctions during his career. In 2009 and 2010, Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the most influential One Hundred Global Thinkers in the world. The Human Rights Society of Pakistan presented him with the ‘The Nisar Osmani Courage in Journalism Award’ in 2001. Rashid became the first journalist to address the UN General Assembly in New York in 2002, at the invitation of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and the first journalist to address NATO ambassadors in Brussels in September 2003. He was awarded Spain’s esteemed Casa Asia medal in 2008 for having given the Spanish people the most knowledge about Asia.
The next year, King Juan Carlos awarded him the prize for finest columnist in the Spanish press at a dinner in his honour. ‘Descent into Chaos’ was the recipient of the renowned Tiziano Terzani Literary Prize in Italy in 2009, which is awarded annually to the best non-fiction work. The book was a finalist for and winner of the 2009 Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Book Award. It also received the Silver Medal of the Arthur Ross Book Award for non-fiction from the Council on Foreign Relations in the United States.
Personal Life
Ahmed Rashid now lives in Lahore, is married, and has two kids.