Going beyond the stereotypes of Kalashnikov-wielding Afghan mujahideen and black-turbaned fundamentalists, Larry Goodson combines Taliban interviews and field research with concise analysis to explain what has been happening in Afghanistan in the last twenty years, and why the future of Afghanistan matters.
Illuminating Afghanistan's myriad cleavages along ethnic, religious, social, and geographical fault lines, Goodson examines the devastating course of the Afghan war. He charts its utter destruction of the country, from the deaths of more than two million Afghans and the dispersal of some six million others as refugees to the comlete collapse of Afghanistan's economy, which today has been replaced by monoagriculture in opium poppies and heroin production. The Taliban now uneasily control roughly 80 percent of the country but themselves show increasing discord along ethnic and political lines.
As it has been through the ages, Afghanistan remains the vital crossroads connecting Central, South, and Southwest Asia. It is the linchpin to trade in the potertially oil-rich new states of Central Asia. The Taliban's role in exporting political Islamism adds fuel to an already incendiary situation in the region. All of Afghanistan's neighbors-Pakistan, Iran, India, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, even Turkey and China, along with the United States-jockey to manipulate its internal affairs in their own interests. What happens in Afghanistan will continue to affect stability and security in an increasingly important region of the post-Cold War world.
1. Afghanistan in the Post-Cold War World
2. Historical Factors Shaping Modern Afghanistan
3. Modern War in Afghanistan : Destruction of a State
4. Impact of the War on Afghan State and Society
5. Afhanistan and the Changing Regional Enviroment
6. The Future of Afghanistan