The Carpet Wars

In 1990, Christopher Kremmer arrived in Afghanistan to interview the doomed communist president, Dr Najibullah as rampaging factions of mujahideen massed on the outskirts of Kabul. He found himself intrigued by the politics and culture of the land, and his book provides revealing, often first-hand portraits of warlords such as Ahmad Shah Masood, "the Lion of Panjsher", of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and of Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf. The real stories of the lands of the ancient silk route, however, are accessed through Kremmer's obsession with the carpets of the region. Initiated into the wonders of the craft through the stunning classic design and pomegranate dyes of the filpai or elephant's foot in Dr Najibullah's office, Kremmer is hooked, and thus tells the tales of his lasting friendships with nomads on portable handlooms to managers of mechanised production units to the merchants in the souks and bazaars. This journey into an ancient, violent, often tragic, but little understood region is also an impassioned plea for the breaking down of the barriers of paranoia, ignorance and hate that continue to divide the world of the 21st-century.