Modern Afghanistan

A History of Struggle and Survival

Amin Saikal

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Edition: 1
• Year: 2004
• Topic: History
• Print ISBN:
  9781780761220
• Subtopic: Central Asian History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780857714787
• Index: History

Afghanistan's history is a sad one: Soviet invasion in 1979; Pakistan-backed internal conflict in the 1980s; the Taliban regime and then the US invasion after the catastrophe of September 11th. Why does Afghanistan remain so vulnerable to domestic instability, foreign intervention and ideological extremism? Amin Saikal provides us with a sweeping new understanding of this troubled country that grounds Afghanistan's problems in rivalries stemming from a series of dynastic alliances within the successive royal families from the end of the eighteenth century to the pro-Communist coup of 1978. This is the definitive study of Afghanistan.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. From Tribal Confederacy to National Coalescence
• 2. National Awakening and Nationalism
• 3. Independence and Radical Modernisation
• 4. The Nadiri Dynasty: Politics of National Gradualism and 'Royal Dualism'
• 5. The Cold War and the Rise of a Rentier State
• 6. Experiment with Democracy 1963-73
• 7. Daoud's Republicanism
• 8. Communist Rule, the Soviet Invasion and Resistance
• 9. Mujahideen Islamic Rule, Taliban Extremism and US Intervention
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index