I first got "hooked" by Central Asia on a three-week
stay in Uzbekistan during the U.S.-led Afghan war. Writing a book
for the German publisher Rowohlt, I spent much of 2002 zigzagging
the region and meeting with the principal actors of the 'New Great
Game' about oil and pipelines: Kazakh oil barons, U.S. generals,
Russian diplomats, Afghan warlords, etc. I travelled through the
vast Central Asian steppe from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang (China),
across the majestic mountain ranges of the Pamir, the Hindu Kush,
and the Karakoram, all the way to Kashmir and Karachi. And of
course to post-Taliban Afghanistan, which in all its tragic beauty
lies at the centre of most Great Game strategies.
