In a matter of weeks, the conflict in Afghanistan focused world attention on people and places which had hitherto been obscure. References to Mazar-e-Sharif, Kunduz and Talaqan in Afghanistan, Quetta in Pakistan, Dushanbe in Tajikistan and Termez in Uzbekistan became frequent and familiar.
New personalities emerged. The tough-looking Afghan-Uzbek General Dostum, the suave aristocratic politician Hamid Karzai and the one-eyed Mullah Omar joined Osama bin Laden at centre stage. Presidents Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan and Imomali Rakhmanov of Tajikistan enjoyed rare public acknowledgement in the West. A region and its peoples, dormant in the European mind-set for more than a century, had suddenly emerged from their long hibernation.
Monica Whitlock, who was the BBC's Central Asian correspondent from 1995 to 1998, brings impressive erudition to bear on the geopolitical, ethnic and religious situation in this very well-written book. All those lost decades come to life in her pages, for those whose knowledge of the region's history had been sketchy to say the least.
The historical process over the past hundred years or so is meticulously illustrated to bring the reader up to the present day and is augmented by accounts of events leading up to the recent conflict. In all, Whitlock has produced the most significant and thorough book available in English on Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. But there are some disconcerting aspects.
The second part of the title, "The Central Asians", gives the impression that all the peoples and countries of the region are covered in the book. This is not the case. Kyrgyzstan and, more strikingly, Turkmenistan, with its eccentric and authoritarian leader Saparmurad Niyazov, who has built a golden statue of himself on a concrete replica of the Eiffel Tower in the centre of Ashgabat, do not figure to any extent. Kazakhstan, included in Central Asia in the book's maps, is similarly ignored. One gets the impression, however, that the use of the phrase "The Central Asians" may have stemmed from a decision by the publisher rather than the author.
If there are errors of fact they occur when Whitlock strays on to Russian territory. A reference to Abdulahad, the Emir of Bukhara "attending, in an official capacity, the glittering coronation of Tsar Nicholas II in St Petersburg in 1896" is plainly wrong. St Petersburg was indeed the capital of Imperial Russia, but, in a significant anomaly, the Tsars were crowned in Moscow.
Much of the "glittering" of Nicholas's coronation was tarnished by an appalling tragedy in which hundreds were crushed to death in a stampede in the field of Khodinka on the eve of the ceremony.
Referring to illegal migration of Tajiks to Moscow she has them, "alighting at Petrovsky station." To my knowledge and to that of my Russian friends and colleagues there is no station of that name in the Russian capital. There are also a number of errors in the transliteration of Cyrillic to Latin script.
What were probably simple mental lapses should have been spotted and corrected by the editors, especially as they occur outside the author's central area of expertise. Instead, they remain to cast doubt on the erudite and accurate references to the three countries with which the book deals in detail.
But these are minor criticisms of an exceptional piece of work which is thoroughly entertaining as well as informative. It is also politically honest at a time when, as in most conflict situations, corners are cut to suit the interests of the belligerents.
President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, a key backer of the western powers in Afghanistan, is shown for what he is.
His pretence that his country is an "emerging democracy" is thoroughly exposed: "The rubber-stamp parliament met twice a year to - sometimes literally - recite poems in Karimov's honour." His censorship of the media, his banning of all effective opposition, the untrammelled authority of his secret police, are set out with clarity. Telephone tapping is widespread and "bugs were set in the house-walls of anyone suspected of unconventional thought".
In the final chapter dealing with the situation after September 11th 2001, there is sympathy for the United States' plight but none for those despots who saw their chance for international recognition because of the "war on terror". The real value of the book however, is in providing an historical context to events of the utmost importance in today's geopolitical scene.
• Seamus Martin is former International Editor and Moscow Correspondent of The Irish Times
Beyond the Oxus: The Central Asians. By Monica Whitlock. John Murray, 290pp. £19.99 sterling
