From tribal confederacy to national coalescence. -- National awakening and nationalism. -- Independence and radical modernisation. -- The Nadiri dynasty: politics of national gradualism and 'royal dualism' -- The cold war and the rise of a rentier state. -- Experiment with a democracy, 1963-1973. -- Daoud's republicanism. -- Communist rule, the Soviet invasion and resistance. -- Mujahideen Islamic rule, Taliban extremism and US intervention
Summary
Afghanistan's history is a sad one. This book provides an understanding of this troubled country that grounds Afghanistan's problems in rivalries stemming from a series of dynastic alliances within the successive royal families, from the end of the eighteenth century to the pro-Communist coup of 1978
