In 60 years the nuclear tipped South Asian enduring rivals, India and Pakistan have fought four wars and were close to a fifth one in 2001. Indo-Pak dyad has been the focal point of countless studies and while discord and conflict are the focus of most studies there have been periods of cooperation that have not been given enough attention. This book is an attempt to dig out the positive aspects of past Indo-Pak engagements and explore the relevant lessons to help resolve the pending issues. The book argues that both came to terms with each after 50 years and created the composite dialogue process in 1997 and by extracting lessons from the history they can resolve their differences even if their overall relations remain hostile.

In 60 years the nuclear tipped South Asian enduring rivals, India and Pakistan have fought four wars and were close to a fifth one in 2001. Indo-Pak dyad has been the focal point of countless studies and while discord and conflict are the focus of most studies there have been periods of cooperation that have not been given enough attention. This book is an attempt to dig out the positive aspects of past Indo-Pak engagements and explore the relevant lessons to help resolve the pending issues. The book argues that both came to terms with each after 50 years and created the composite dialogue process in 1997 and by extracting lessons from the history they can resolve their differences even if their overall relations remain hostile.

Afghanistan has become synonymous with violence. In the past 25 years alone, the country has endured Russian invasion and occupation, civil war and a US-led military campaign, resulting in the combined loss of over 2 million lives, most of them civilian. Even now, following the overthrow of the Taliban regime, old ethnic animosities have resurfaced which seem likely to push the country into another spell of internal war.

But why is it that Afghanistan has experienced such bloody conflict and slaughter? What factors have allowed the country to be exploited by external powers who have intervened to determine its politics, social structure and, consequently, its place in the world?

In this fascinating new book, Amalendu Misra seeks to provide answers to these pressing questions. By analysing the nature of conflict in Afghanistan, he exposes the various geopolitical, ethnic, economic and religious variables which have contributed to the breakdown of the Afghan state, and ponders whether post-war reconstruction could lead to a more democratic and peaceful Afghanistan.