The Afghanistan Wars: Second Edition (Twentieth Century Wars) - Softcover

'Maley's book is arguably the key text both for students and researchers on Afghanistan's recent history. Underpinned by extensive scholarship and judicious argumentation, The Afghanistan Wars is also of great relevance to any appraisal of a vital element of US and Western efforts in the "war on terror".' - Gregory Kent, Roehampton University, UK
 
'The publication of a second edition of William Maley's 'The Afghanistan Wars' is a most welcome development. The first edition, which dealt with the period up to the fall of the Taliban, was a model of lucid historical exposition combined with sophisticated analysis, valuable for both the specialist and the general reader. The new edition continues to exhibit these qualities with an additional chapter bringing the narrative up to date.' - John Chiddick, La Trobe University, Australia
 
'The best work available on Afghanistan's recent history - Maley's scholarship and mastery of the sources are evident on every page.' - Stephen J. Blank, Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, USA

A whole generation has grown up in Afghanistan knowing little but the ravages of war. The dramatic overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001 was simply one event in a series of interrelated struggles which have blighted ordinary people's lives over the last three decades, and which continue to interfere with reconciliation and reconstruction.

This new edition of The Afghanistan Wars provides a meticulously-documented history of these successive waves of conflict. It explores in detail:
· the roots of Afghanistan's slide into disorder in the late 1970s
· how the Soviet Union came to the rescue of unworthy clients and was then sucked into a quagmire
· the frightening consequences of state breakdown and self-interested meddling by Afghanistan's neighbours in the period after communist rule collapsed
· the rise and fall of the Taliban regime.

Thoroughly revised in the light of the latest research, the second edition also features a new final chapter which examines post-Taliban Afghanistan, bringing the story up to the present day and mounting a strong case for continuing support for this troubled country.