A whole generation has grown up in Afghanistan knowing little but the ravages
of war. The dramatic overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001 was simply one event in a
series of interrelated struggles which have blighted ordinary people's lives over the last
three decades, and which continue to interfere with reconciliation and reconstruction.
This new edition of The Afghanistan Wars provides a meticulously-documented history
of these successive waves of conflict. It explores in detail:
• the roots of Afghanistan's slide into disorder in the late 1970s
• how the Soviet Union came to the rescue of unworthy clients and was then sucked into a
quagmire
• the frightening consequences of state breakdown and self-interested meddling by
Afghanistan's neighbours in the period after communist rule collapsed
• the rise and fall of the Taliban regime.
Thoroughly revised in the light of the latest research, the second edition also features a
new final chapter which examines post-Taliban Afghanistan, bringing the story up to the
present day and mounting a strong case for continuing support for this troubled cou
WILLIAM MALEY is Professor and Director of the Asia-Pacific College of
Diplomacy at The Australian National University, Australia.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Note on References
Map
Introduction
The Road to War
Soviet Strategy, Tactics and Dilemmas
The Development of Afghan Resistance
The Karmal Period 1979-1986
The Najibullah-Gorbachev Period 1986-1989
The Road to Soviet Withdrawal
Consequences of the Soviet-Afghan War
The Interregnum of Najibullah 1989-1992
The Rise and Fall of the Rabbani Government 1992-1996
The Rise and Rule of the Taliban 1994-2001
The Fall of the Taliban
Post-Taliban Afghanistan
References
Index
344 pages, Paperback
