• Games Without Rules

  • The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan
  • By: Tamim Ansary
  • Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
  • Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (352 ratings)

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Games Without Rules  By  cover art

Games Without Rules

By: Tamim Ansary
Narrated by: Tamim Ansary
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Publisher's summary

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
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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)

What listeners say about Games Without Rules

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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.

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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.

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  • MM
  • 04-01-14

As good as David McCullough

Any additional comments?

Afghans deserve a voice like Tamim Ansary to tell their modern history in contemporary English. His style reminded me of my grandfather who told me among many others about the reign of Amanullah Khan in relatable way full of rich imagery and humor. Most other history books about Afghanistan originally written in English are by outsiders which makes Afghanistan and its history seem like an exotic carnival completely disconnected from modern issues, or a place full of gloom and tragedy. Not to say that Afghans haven’t lived through some crazy carnival type periods filled with pain and tragedy, their story is not very different from most people elsewhere like the United States. Except that every time they’ve tried to create a nation that allows its inhabitants to more freely pursue happiness, they’re rudely interrupted. These interruptions in past couple of hundred years came in form of three wars with Great Brittan, Russian invasion, a civil war, followed by a brutal Taliban rule, and the ongoing U.S/NATO occupation. In those brief peaceful periods yet greatly influenced by outside powers, Ansary argues Afghans made great progress to become a functioning nation with lingering conflict between urban and village perspectives. Solaiman Afzal

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  • JK
  • 02-12-24

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.

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The real deal

I felt the afghans breathing and their hearts beating. This is a story about Arab people living their life. Not about empires, not about wars. About people and the complexity of their destiny.

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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.

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Too bad the US bigwigs didn't read this 20 yes ago

This is an excellent book, written by an Afghan-American who really understands his ancestral homeland and its inhabitants in a way that nation after invading nation never tried to. It was written in 2012, though, and it's super depressing to hear the authors hopeful tone about some of the progress in Afghanistan, especially with regards to woman, knowing how it stands now with all the recent news about the Taliban taking back over and woman getting kicked back out of...pretty much everything. It's wild how well he unknowingly predicted the disaster that was the American withdrawal, based on his knowledge of how every other foreign intervention in Afghanistan ended. I still believe we had to invade because of bin Laden-September 11 was just too horrific to not pursue the nation that allowed him and his murderous ideas to flourish-but we shouldn't have messed around trying to "nation build" in our image in yet another place that is nothing like us and doesn't really want us there. Afghanistan really is the "Graveyard of Empires," and the powers that be in the U.S. should have done their homework before we rolled up in there.

Highly recommended.

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I loved this book.

I learned so much about a country I've been curious about for so long. I feel like I have grown as a person by what I learned. It was very helpful to learn about the Taliban and al-Qaeda. I understand so much more now.
Reading it now in 2023, I'm able to apply what I have learned and understand what is going on in Afghanistan now. What a roller coaster ride they have had! I wonder what the history of this country would have been if they had not been interrupted and yanked in one way or another so many times.
It was perfect that the narrator was the author. I loved the sound of his voice.
I would have never been able to sound out all the different names if I didn't listen to it on audible.

There is a sentence in chapter 26 that will make your jaw drop on the ground! My husband and I couldn't stop laughing and we played it over and over. Mr Ansary didn't even change the tone of his voice. It's so out of place and we cracked up!

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Overwhelming and enlightening

I applaud the author for reaching an audience that is woefully undereducated in the culture and affairs of Afghanistan. Since beginning to help just a few of those Afghan families who fled in August 2021, I’ve not had the benefit of such an overview—until now. A second and third listen will be necessary to take it in. The author has my gratitude and admiration.

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great

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

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