Ahmed Rashid at the Commonwealth Club

Pakistani journalist and best-selling author Ahmed Rashid discusses U.S. policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, arguing that the U.S. must take on the task of nation-building if there is any hope of peace in the region.

Rashid is the author of "Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia," a book used extensively by American analysts in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. His latest book is "Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia."

Rashid was a featured guest at the Commonwealth Club of California.

More from MPR

• The escalating war in Afghanistan
  March 6, 2009
• Obama: U.S. combat in Iraq to end in 18 months
  February 27, 2009
• Obama OKs 17,000 more Afghanistan troops
  February 17, 2009
• Obama's Afghanistan problem
  February 17, 2009

Resources

• Ahmed Rashid's Website
• Commonwealth Club