Introduction by Hikmet Çetin Foreword Prelude My Appointment and the Spiny Road to Kabul My Appointment to Kabul Prior to my Departure from Geneva and the UN Departure from Geneva and Final Review of the Situation in Ankara Departure for Afghanistan First Contacts in Islamabad Arriving at Kabul and Peace Efforts Kabul, a Capital under Siege and The Turkish Embassy in Kabul My Mission Commences First Shocks in Kabul President Prof. Dr. Burhanuddin Rabbani Ahmad Shah Massood My Fiftieth Birthday in Kabul Calls for Alliance to General Dostum Women’s Associations of Kabul under Fire Peace Efforts (?) Mazar-e Sharif Girls’ College in Kabul Contacts in Islamabad and Ankara Afghanistan Warms Up Resurgence of Gulbiddin Hekmatyar Buzkashi A Synagogue in Kabul The Living Memory of the Embassy: Imameddin Shiva Rabbani’s Reconciliation Efforts Face Growing Reactions Rehearsal for Doomsday! “Invisible” Visitor from the United States Turkey’s National Sovereignty and Children’s Day of April 23 Announcement of my Promotion: I Win my Fight Crescendo Racing to the Finale, Collapse of Common-Sense Last Opportunities, Last Mistakes The Final Count-Down Finale Post Mortem Diplomacy: Negotiating Peace with the Taleban Afghanistan Fally: into Darkness: the Taleban Era Back in Islamabad My New Interim Position: Ambassador in Nişantaşı, Istanbul Turkey’s New Peace Initiative for Afghanistan Shuttle Diplomacy: My First Contacts with the Taleban The Anti-climax My Mission Comes to an End While the Crisis Escalates Conclusions: The Afghan Crisis and its Global Aftermath From Afghanistan to the Middle East and the Black Sea Russia is Back in the Game Understanding Current State of Affairs and a Flashback The Expanded Great Game and Turkey Remembering a Centennial: The Russian Bolshevik Revolution  195 Afghanistan: The Political Big Bang of our Times? A Chronology of Afghanistan’s Political History, Turkish-Afghan Relations and Related Developments since the Late Nineteenth Century Index