The Soviet invasion of 1979 was a turning point in Afghan history, wiping out the place Ansary knew as a child.

'When the Mongols conquered, they wanted the place,' he says, 'but in the last 200 years, there's been something different going on.' That approach hasn't helped Afghanistan, Ansary adds, but it did trigger a desire among the Afghan elites to develop the country and build it up to Western standards, 'not to supplant Afghan culture, but to enable Afghans to have more of the things that Western societies enjoyed.' The British - like the Americans who came after them - weren't intending to stay in Afghanistan. in compounds separate from the Afghan people, and they brought their British life with them, they brought the chandeliers, they brought polo matches, they brought cigars and after-dinner liqueurs, and the two societies pursued their lives completely in isolation from each other.'

Over the course of Afghan history, Ansary continues, various elites have tried to centralize power and 'impose rules on a game without rules.' Invading powers, particularly, did not mix well with Afghan culture and society. As it was played originally, the field of play had no lines, there were no referees, there were no fouls, and there were no teams - riders played for their own glory or for the landowner or tribal chieftain that supported them.' 'This is an ancient game, and its mounted riders grab a goat carcass off the ground and try to get it to a goal post and back again. 'There's a game in Afghanistan called buzkashi,' Ansary tells NPR's Renee Montagne. The title - Games Without Rules - references both the political game played for control of Afghanistan and a popular sport there. His new book, Games without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan, details the past 200 years in the life of Afghanistan, a history 'often interrupted' by invasions from outside powers like Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States. Though Ansary's adult life has been here in America, his writing reflects his deep Afghan roots. and aimed at turning a dusty valley into fertile farms. There, his father worked on a massive irrigation project, funded by the U.S. He spent much of his 1950s childhood in the town of Lashkar Gah. The story of Afghanistan - its history, its culture - is a narrative writer Tamim Ansary says he 'carries in his bones.' Ansary was born there to an Afghan father, educated in the United States, and an American mother. Your purchase helps support NPR programming.

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