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

Goodson, Larry P.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0295980508 ISBN 13: 9780295980508

Publisher: University of Washington Press, 2001

Synopsis

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and the dispersal of some six million others as refugees to the complete collapse of its economy, which today has been replaced by monoagriculture in opium poppies and heroin production.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

About this title

Book Description:

A vivid political analysis of the disintegration of Afghanistan and its critical role in an increasingly important region of the post-Cold War world.

About the Author:

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

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0295980508
• ISBN 13: 9780295980508
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 279