Glocal Game of Chess in South Asia: A Tridimensional Study of Rahman's In the Light of What We Know

Abstract

With Dirk C. Van Raemdonck's theory of 'tridimensional game of chess in South Asia', this study explores how the Great Game of chess has encompassed the board of Afghanistan into the strategic and economical range of global as well as local nations. In this regard, this study delimits Zia Haider Rahman's 'In the Light of What We Know' to examine the role of great (US, India), little (Pakistan, Saudi Arabia), and local (ISI, UNAMA, AfDARI, militants, etc.) players respectively. The three-level players struggle to win their politicoeconomic and geostrategic motives. The delimited novel exposes that the little and local players are playing the game of proxy to fetch their own designs. This study concludes that great global players/forces ensnare little and local players and misuse them as white and/or black pieces respectively to win their gains.