Stephen TankelBesprekingen

On the night of 21 November 2008, in a series of simultaneous and well-coordinated attacks, Lashkar-e-Taiba gunmen killed more than 170 people and injured over 300 in Mumbai, India's commercial capital. The victims included not only the Indian elite, but also Jews and Westerners. The Mumbai attacks announced Lashkar-e- Taiba's emergence on the world stage. Lashkar rose to prominence on the back of Pakistani state sponsorship for the insurgency in Kashmir, but has sent fighters to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as providing essential assistance to al-Qaeda. Were these attacks evidence that Lashkar is moving deeper into al-Qaeda's orbit? Or were they simply the latest attempts by which the group sought to harm Pakistan's historic rival, India? This book attempts to provide the back-story necessary to address these and other pressing questions. It charts Lashkar's development from a small group unable to make a dent in the Afghan jihad against the Soviets to the most feared organization in Kashmir and India as well as a powerhouse in Pakistani society. Along the way, it considers the nature of the threat Lashkar poses to Pakistan, India, and the West and how that threat has evolved since the Mumbai attacks.