The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan

by Robert D. Crews, Amin Tarzi

Overview

The Taliban remain one of the most elusive forces in modern history. A ragtag collection of clerics and madrasa students, this obscure movement emerged out of the rubble of the Cold War to shock the world with their draconian Islamic order. The Taliban refused to surrender their vision even when confronted by the United States after September 11, 2001. Reinventing themselves as part of a broad insurgency that destabilized Afghanistan, they pledged to drive out the Americans, NATO, and their allies and restore their "Islamic Emirate."

The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan explores the paradox at the center of this challenging phenomenon: how has a seemingly anachronistic band of religious zealots managed to retain a tenacious foothold in the struggle for Afghanistan's future? Grounding their analysis in a deep understanding of the country's past, leading scholars of Afghan history, politics, society, and culture show how the Taliban was less an attempt to revive a medieval theocracy than a dynamic, complex, and adaptive force rooted in the history of Afghanistan and shaped by modern international politics. Shunning journalistic accounts of its conspiratorial origins, the essays investigate broader questions relating to the character of the Taliban, its evolution over time, and its capacity to affect the future of the region.

Offering an invaluable guide to "what went wrong" with the American reconstruction project in Afghanistan, this book accounts for the persistence of a powerful and enigmatic movement while simultaneously mapping Afghanistan's enduring political crisis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674032248
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	05/15/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	210,705
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Robert D. Crews is Associate Professor of History at Stanford University.

Amin Tarzi is the Director of Middle East Studies, Marine Corps University.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Robert D. Crews and Amin Tarzi

1. Explaining the Taliban's Ability to Mobilize the Pashtuns
Abdulkader Sinno

2. The Rise and Fall of the Taliban
Neamatollah Nojumi

3. The Taliban, Women, and the Hegelian Private Sphere
Juan R.˚I. Cole

4. Taliban and Talibanism in Historical Perspective
M. Nazif Shahrani

5. Remembering the Taliban
Lutz Rzehak

6. Fraternity, Power, and Time in Central Asia
Robert L. Canfield

7. Moderate Taliban?
Robert D. Crews

8. The Neo-Taliban
Amin Tarzi

Epilogue: Afghanistan and the Pax Americana
Atiq Sarwari and Robert D. Crews

Notes

Contributors

Acknowledgments

Index

What People are Saying About This

Tarzi and Crews' account of the Taliban's historical and political evolution provides a most useful and important perspective on strategic thinking. Issues that bedeviled the Taliban endure, and this timely book underlines the scope of the problem.

Ronald E. Neumann

Tarzi and Crews' account of the Taliban's historical and political evolution provides a most useful and important perspective on strategic thinking. Issues that bedeviled the Taliban endure, and this timely book underlines the scope of the problem.
— Ronald E. Neumann, former Ambassador to Afghanistan

David Edwards

Bringing the story of a poorly understood but suddenly vitally important political movement up to date, the authors provide new perspectives on a revitalized Taliban that again threatens the stability of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
— David Edwards, Williams College

Editorial Reviews

Bringing the story of a poorly understood but suddenly vitally important political movement up to date, the authors provide new perspectives on a revitalized Taliban that again threatens the stability of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

David Edwards

The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan is of great value and highly welcome...Historically, successful counter-insurgency depends on striking political deals with parts of the insurgency. For that to happen, NATO needs to know its enemy. This volume makes a great contribution towards understanding the Taliban and the insurgency.

World Today - Timo Noetzel

Tarzi and Crews' account of the Taliban's historical and political evolution provides a most useful and important perspective on strategic thinking. Issues that bedeviled the Taliban endure, and this timely book underlines the scope of the problem.

Ronald E. Neumann

The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan is of great value and highly welcome...Historically, successful counter-insurgency depends on striking political deals with parts of the insurgency. For that to happen, NATO needs to know its enemy. This volume makes a great contribution towards understanding the Taliban and the insurgency.
— Timo Noetzel

World Today

Observers in the 1990s marveled to see the Taliban bring order to a chaotic Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal. Admiration vanished as the Taliban proceeded to oppress men as well as women and massacre opponents. When they refused to surrender Osama bin Laden after 9/11, the U.S. invasion helped sweep them from power. Then dismissed as reactionary zealots, the Taliban have since been revived and are now steadily expanding their influence. Historian Crews and reporter Tarzi have assembled eight revealing essays on this widely reviled movement. The Taliban are ethnic Pashtuns who make up perhaps half the country's population and whose elite have traditionally ruled the country. This ragtag army of Islamic clerics and religious students presented itself as a superior alternative to ruling Pashtun elites and successfully manipulated tribal politics. Despite accusations of being a medieval throwback, the Taliban are Islamic "counter modernists." Their use of mass spectacle, surveillance, the media and even their strict regulation of gender roles is consistent with other modern totalitarian movements. The authors' 58-page introduction adds additional clarity and context to Afghanistan's tortured history, making for an engrossing read that is more accessible than most academic collections. (Feb.)

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