The Khyber Pass: A History
by Paddy Docherty
Faber & Faber, HK$297
Should such a document be available, it would be interesting to take a look at Paddy Docherty's full resume. Apart from being an Oxford boxing blue, he's apparently worked as a ranch hand, chef, oil and gas consultant, internet entrepreneur, shipbroker and investment banker. In addition - and raising an extra eyebrow - he has set up a consultancy (Kingmaker) offering connections from 'the Nigerian governmental sphere to the international business world'.
The Khyber Pass is his first book, and it's no surprise that such a polymath - who presumably can rope a steer, set up a web portal, deliver a swift right cross, and advise on the ins and outs of commercial life in Abuja, all before whipping up eggs Benedict for breakfast - should have made such an intriguing job of it.
About 48 kilometres long and in places barely 15 metres wide, the Khyber Pass - slicing through the mountains to join Pakistan and Afghanistan - has witnessed some of the most stirring events of past millennia. Alexander the Great marched his soldiers through it, the British army suffered one of its most ignominious defeats there while attempting to retreat from Kabul in 1842 (only one man survived out of 16,000) and, more recently, US congressman Charlie Wilson visited it in 1983 as part of his campaign to fund the mujahedeen's battle against the invading Soviets. With hi-tech help from American-supplied anti-aircraft missiles, the Russians were eventually forced out, only to be replaced by the Taleban - with disastrous consequences for the US.