Afghanistan's Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics, and the Rise of the Taliban

by Goodson, Larry P.

• ISBN13: 9780295980508
• ISBN10: 0295980508
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-05-01
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr

Summary

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and the dispersal of some six million others as refugees to the complete collapse of its economy, which today has been replaced by monoagriculture in opium poppies and heroin production.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 controled roughly 80 percent of the country but themselves have shown increasing discord along ethnic and political lines.

Author Biography

Larry P. Goodson is associate professor of international studies at Bentley College, Waltham, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Maps and Tables	vi
Preface	vii
Afghanistan in the Post---Cold War World	3	(20)
Historical Factors Shaping Modern Afghanistan	23	(31)
Modern War in Afghanistan: Destruction of a State	54	(37)
Impact of the War on Afghan State and Society	91	(42)
Afghanistan and the Changing Regional Environment	133	(34)
The Future of Afghanistan	167	(22)
Appendix: Major Actors in Modern Afghan History	189	(5)
Notes	194	(34)
Glossary	228	(9)
References Cited	237	(17)
Index	254