Going beyond the stereotypes of Kalashnikov-wielding Afghan mujahideen and black-turbaned Taliban fundamentalists, Larry Goodson explains in this concise analysis of the Afghan war what has really been happening in Afghanistan in the last twenty years.
Beginning with the reasons behind Afghanistan’s inability to forge a strong state — its myriad cleavages along ethnic, religious, social, and geographical fault lines — Goodson then examines the devastating course of the war itself. He charts its utter destruction of the country, from the deaths of more than 2 million Afghans and the dispersal of some six million others as refugees to the complete collapse of its economy, which today has been replaced by monoagriculture in opium poppies and heroin production. The Taliban, some of whose leaders Goodson interviewed as recently as 1997, have controlled roughly 80 percent of the country but themselves have shown increasing discord along ethnic and political lines.
Table of Content
Maps and Tables
Preface
Afghanistan in the Post-Cold War World
Historical Factors Shaping Modern Afghanistan
Modern War in Afghanistan: Destruction of a State
Impact of the War on Afghan State and Society
Afghanistan and the Changing Regional Environment
The Future of Afghanistan
Appendix: Major Actors in Modern Afghan History
Notes
Glossary
References Cited
Index
About the author
Larry P. Goodson is associate professor of international studies at Bentley College, Waltham, Massachusetts.More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
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