Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to the Present

Abstract

[Gilles Dorronsoro]'s study had many virtues and only a few flaws. Helpfully, he provides many tools to help readers get through the maze of modern Afghanistan. There are detailed political and topographic maps, a glossary, and a chronology. His footnotes are integrated into the text and provide relevant background information. When an important figure is introduced, Dorronsoro gives him or her a brief biographical sketch that helps explain the actor's motives. (One improvement would have been to put these sketches in a separate appendix). Dorronsoro also has a refreshingly nuanced approach. For instance, instead of piling opprobrium on the Taliban, he carefully notes how their treatment of women had continuities with the harsh conduct of the Mujahedin during the civil war. However, at the same time, he argues that the Taliban represented a radical break in the treatment of women by applying a medieval Muslim law that had not been used in Afghanistan. If this book has any flaws, it is the cursory treatment of economics. In fairness, Dorronsoro does not claim to be writing an economic history. Still, an economic analysis of Afghanistan's problems would have been welcome. Minor quibbles withstanding, this is a definitive work that deserves to be on the bookshelves of any serious student of Afghanistan. It is a welcome antidote to the popular myths that dominate the discussion about this country. This brief chronology, although necessary, does not do justice to the strengths of this comprehensive work. Dorronsoro gives detailed descriptions of the various factions that have vied for power in Afghanistan. He analyzes the sociological background of the Islamists, communists, republicans, monarchists, and Taliban. Rightfully, he carefully outlines the influence that religion has played on the political and social structure of Afghanistan. He distinguishes between the traditional teachings of the ulema and the more radical and fundamentalist madrasas in Pakistan, where most of the Taliban were educated. Pakistan is properly seen as one of the decisive actors. It was Pakistani policy that sustained the Mujahedin and gave crucial support to the Taliban in their bid for power. Pakistan wanted to create a client regime in Afghanistan as an entry point to the former Soviet republics in central Asia and to provide a buffer against India. After 9/11, Pakistan itself was threatened with isolation from the rest of the world and they thus turned on their erstwhile clients and supported the United States intervention. Along with Pakistan, Dorronsoro also explains in detail the Soviet and American designs on Afghanistan. The manipulation by foreign powers is one of Dorronsoro's central themes.