A Military History of Afghanistan: From the Great Game to the Global War on Terror

Abstract

The first comprehensive history of the last two-plus centuries of warfare and international conflict in land-locked Afghanistan, from the Anglo-Afghan wars of the 1800s through the region's early 20th-century struggles to modernize, its last monarchy (1933-1973), the Soviet Union's so-called "Vietnam War" in the 1980s, and America's "War on Terror," which began in 2001 and continues into the present. By an insider native Afghan author whose careers have encompassed military, government, and academic service. A distinct geography and a turbulent history -- Highlights of the past, ancient era to 1800 -- The great game and the British invasion of Afghanistan, 1809-1839 -- The first Anglo-Afghan War 1839-1842 -- Geopolitical changes in Central Asia leading to the second Anglo-Afghan War, 1842-1878 -- The second phase of the second Anglo-Afghan war, 1879-1881 -- A period of uneasy peace and the third Anglo-Afghan war, 1880-1919 -- Afghanistan under King Amanullah and the civil war, 1919-1929 -- The Cold War and the Soviet invasion, 1929-1979 -- Soviet occupation and the war of resistance, 1979-1989 -- The civil war and the rise of the Taliban, 1989-2001 -- U.S. invasion, the fall of the Taliban and the Bonn process, 2001-2005.