As a high-ranking member of the British diplomatic service in
Afghanistan and with previous experience in neighbouring Pakistan,
Ewans is well placed to provide this accessible overview of Afghan
history from its earliest days to the present. With the aid of
several maps, he explains how this 'land of stark and rugged
beauty' with a population of some 20 million, divided up into 20
main ethnic groups sharing over 30 languages, has been a
battleground of warring factions, invading armies and, latterly,
global terrorists over many centuries. After a series of early
dynasties and the emergence of an empire in the 18th century,
Afghanistan became the subject of a long and bitter power struggle
between Britain and Russia. It was in the 1920s, following its
declaration of independence that reform finally came to the country
with the drawing-up of a constitution, secularisation and
improvements in women's rights and education. At the same time, it
became steadily more outward-looking, joining the League of Nations
in the early 1930s and shifting its allegiance away from its former
occupiers and towards Germany. However, following the Second World
War, there were major difficulties with the newly created Pakistan,
which gave the Soviet Union the opportunity to step in once again.
Overtures were made to America in the 1950s but these were
rejected, leaving the door open for Russian military training and
supply of arms. Only later in the decade did the US decide to act,
building roads and an airport and forging educational links. Amidst
student unrest in the 1960s, the foundations were laid for an
emerging Communist party which would lead to a Communist coup in
the 1970s with its attendant mass arrests and killings. The gaps
left by these purges were filled by Soviet officials but still
unrest persisted, leaving the Russians no choice, as they perceived
it, but to invade. The ensuing campaign, expected to last for no
more than a few weeks, only came to an end some nine years later
under the influence of the Soviet President Gorbachev and as a
result of massive military aid to the Mujahidin in their guerrilla
war from the US. The enormous costs, both economic and human, were
felt not only by the Soviets themselves but by Afghanistan, which
was to be torn apart by the civil war that followed and by the rest
of the world, as the Taliban were able to take power, inflicting
misery upon the Afghan population and harbouring the terrorists who
pose such a threat to world peace and stability today. Ewans
concludes by assessing what the future holds for this wretched
country, plagued by severe environmental and humanitarian problems
- disease, poverty and illiteracy - holding the dubious honour of
being the most densely landmined country in the world, and having
been stripped of its entire artistic heritage. The years ahead seem
bleak indeed. (Kirkus UK)
A fascinating chronicle of a nation's turbulent history.
Reaching back to earliest times, Martin Ewans examines the historical evolution of one of today's most dangerous breeding grounds of global terrorism. After a succession of early dynasties and the emergence of an Afghan empire during the eighteenth century, the nineteenth and early twentieth century saw a fierce power struggle between Russia and Britain for supremacy in Afghanistan that was ended by the nation's proclamation of independence in 1919. A communist coup in the late 1970s overthrew the established regime and led to the invasion of Soviet troops in 1979. Roughly a decade later, the Soviet Union withdrew, condemning Afghanistan to a civil war that tore apart the nation's last remnants of religious, ethnic, and political unity. It was into this climate that the Taliban was born.
Today, war-torn and economically destitute, Afghanistan faces unique challenges as it looks toward an uncertain future. Martin Ewans carefully weighs the lessons of history to provide a frank look at Afghanistan's prospects and the international resonances of the nation's immense task of total political and economic reconstruction.
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