Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and PoliticsA fascinating chronicle of a nation's turbulent history. Reaching back to earliest times, Martin Ewans examines the historical evolution of one of today's most dangerous breeding grounds of global terrorism. After a succession of early dynasties and the emergence of an Afghan empire during the eighteenth century, the nineteenth and early twentieth century saw a fierce power struggle between Russia and Britain for supremacy in Afghanistan that was ended by the nation's proclamation of independence in 1919. A communist coup in the late 1970s overthrew the established regime and led to the invasion of Soviet troops in 1979. Roughly a decade later, the Soviet Union withdrew, condemning Afghanistan to a civil war that tore apart the nation's last remnants of religious, ethnic, and political unity. It was into this climate that the Taliban was born. Today, war-torn and economically destitute, Afghanistan faces unique challenges as it looks toward an uncertain future. Martin Ewans carefully weighs the lessons of history to provide a frank look at Afghanistan's prospects and the international resonances of the nation's immense task of total political and economic reconstruction. |
From inside the book
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... religion and the basis of its overriding culture and values , the majority of Afghans being Sunnis of the Hanafi school . Insofar as there has been a sense of unity in the country , it is Islam , with its concept of 7 The Land and the ...
... religious sphere as mediators , healers and teachers . Higher in the religious hierarchy are the ulama or maul- vis , the scholars who are the repositories of Islamic law and tradition , and the qazis and muftis , who exercise judicial ...
... religious and racial grounds , while they themselves have a par- ticular hatred of the Pushtoons , whom they see as ... religion that included a form of ancestor worship , carving strange wooden figures to adorn the graves of their dead ...
... religion , ethnicity and trade . Although never colonized , Afghanistan is part of the colonial history of Tzarist Russia and British India , with a strategic importance that in 1884 brought the two empires to the brink of war . The ...
... to China , and the Kushans conducted a thriving trade with Rome and the Han Dynasty . Remarkably , the kingdom that these Central Asian nomads proceeded to establish was notable for both its religious and its 20 AFGHANISTAN.
Contents
1 | |
15 | |
29 | |
The Rise of Dost Mohammed | 45 |
The First AngloAfghan War | 59 |
Dost Mohammed and Sher Ali | 71 |
The Second AngloAfghan War | 86 |
Abdur Rahman The Iron Amir | 98 |
King Zahir and Cautious Constitutionalism | 164 |
The Return of Daoud and the Saur Revolution | 176 |
Khalq Rule and Soviet Invasion | 189 |
Occupation and Resistance | 206 |
Humiliation and Withdrawal | 226 |
Enter the Taliban | 249 |
Oil Drugs and International Terrorism | 272 |
The Fall of the Taliban | 284 |
Habibullah and the Politics of Neutrality | 110 |
Amanullah and the Drive for Modernization | 118 |
The Rule of the Brothers | 136 |
The First Decade | 152 |
Notes | 301 |
Bibliography | 317 |