Afghanistan: The Labyrinth of Violence [Hardcover]

Afghanistan has become synonymous with violence. In the past 25 years alone, the country has endured Russian invasion and occupation, civil war and a US-led military campaign, resulting in the combined loss of over 2 million lives, most of them civilian. Even now, following the overthrow of the Taliban regime, old ethnic animosities have resurfaced which seem likely to push the country into another spell of internal war.

But why is it that Afghanistan has experienced such bloody conflict and slaughter? What factors have allowed the country to be exploited by external powers who have intervened to determine its politics, social structure and, consequently, its place in the world?

In this fascinating new book, Amalendu Misra seeks to provide answers to these pressing questions. By analysing the nature of conflict in Afghanistan, he exposes the various geopolitical, ethnic, economic and religious variables which have contributed to the breakdown of the Afghan state, and ponders whether post-war reconstruction could lead to a more democratic and peaceful Afghanistan.

Acknowledgements vi

Map vii

Introduction 1

1 The Curse of Geopolitics 13

2 Ethnic Rivalry and The Death of Afghan State 41

3 Return of the Conservative Natives 61

4 Brothers in Arms: Radical Islam and its?Followers 85

5 11 September and Commitment Against Terrorism 104

6 Poppy Cultivation and Political Economy of Civil War 125

7 Picking Up the Pieces: Reconstructing Peace 147

Conclusion: Confronting the Future 170

Glossary 181

Chronology 185

Notes 189

References 197

Index 212

Misra's ability to proffer ethnic explanations forlÓ4