Books

Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban

In 1996, the world watched with varying degrees of interest, surprise, and unease as armed, ultra- fundamentalist insurgents overthrew the Afghan government. Within days of their victory, the Taliban, a militant Islamic sect, were issuing draconian religious decrees, restricting women's employment and movement, rounding up Afghans at gunpoint to pray five times a day, and publicly executing political opponents and criminals.

Composed of essays commissioned from the foremost experts on the Taliban, this anthology traces the movement's origins, its ascendance, the reasons for its success, and its role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Crucial to the Taliban's staying power as a governing force will be its relations with neighbouring countries and with the West. Interestingly, given their intense hatred of Iran, the Taliban were enthusiastically supported by the U.S. government up to the very moment of their triumphant arrival in Kabul.

Examining yet another country on the brink of ethnic disintegration, Fundamentalism Reborn? is a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the history, rise to power, and future of the most dramatic manifestation of Islamic fundamentalism since the Iranian revolution.

Other Books

A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)
An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan (2001)
Afghan Buzkashi: Power Games and Gamesmen (2000)
Afghanistan: A Companion and Guide (2005)
Afghanistan: A Modern History (2005)
Afghanistan Aid, Armies & Empires (2009)
Afghanistan: From Holy War to Civil War (1995)
Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul (2008)
Afghanistan: Mullah, Marx and Mujahid (2000)
Decoding the New Taliban: Insights from the Afghan Field (2009)
Earth and Ashes (2003)
Empires of Mud: Wars and Warlords in Afghanistan (2009)
Encyclopaedia of Afghanistan (2002)
Fragmentation of Afghanistan (2002)
Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban (1998)
Koran, Kalashnikov and Laptop: The Neo-Taliban Insurgency in Afghanistan 2002-2007 (2007)
Meena: Heroine of Afghanistan (2004)
Modern Afghanistan (2004)
Monuments of Afghanistan (2008)
Organisations at War in Afghanistan and Beyond (2010)
Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to the Present (2005)
The Afghanistan Wars (2009)
The Bookseller of Kabul (2004)
The Kite Runner (2003)
The Patience Stone (2010)
The Places in Between (2004)
The Road to Oxiana (1937)
The Sewing Circles of Herat: A Personal Voyage Through Afghanistan (2002)
The Swallows of Kabul (2005)
West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story (2002)