The Pashtun Borderland: A Religious and Cultural History of the Taliban - Hardcover

Hartung, Jan-Peter

 
9781009289276: The Pashtun Borderland: A Religious and Cultural History of the Taliban
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1009289276 ISBN 13: 9781009289276
Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2025

Synopsis

Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the need to understand the group's history and ideology has only increased. Jan-Peter Hartung's timely study examines the phenomenon of the Taliban through a topographically, ethnically and geo-politically distinct space: the Pashtun Borderland of today's Afghanistan and Pakistan. Emphasising the central role of Pashtun ethnicity, Hartung covers approximately five hundred years of Pashtun history: from the early modern Mughal empire to the first Durrani Empire in the eighteenth century and the regional developments during the colonial period in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Drawing from a wealth of primary source materials in Pashto, Persian, Urdu and Arabic, Hartung moves the discussion of the Taliban beyond the immediacy of journalistic reportage and security-orientated studies, to a nuanced analysis of a wide range of actors and ideologies, refracting Afghanistan's present moment through the lens of its long cultural and religious history.

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About the Author

Jan-Peter Hartung has a MA in South and Central Asian Studies and Philosophy and a doctorate Study of Religions and a senior doctorate (Habilitation) in the Study of Islam. His special focus is on South Asia and the wider Persianate world from around the 18th century to the present.

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Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Publication date
2025
Language
English
ISBN 10 
1009289276
ISBN 13 
9781009289276
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
592