The Taliban Revival

The Taliban Revival PDF

Author: Hassan Abbas

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2014-06-24

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 0300183690

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In autumn 2001, U.S. and NATO troops were deployed to Afghanistan to unseat the Taliban rulers, repressive Islamic fundamentalists who had lent active support to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda jihadists. The NATO forces defeated and dismantled the Taliban government, scattering its remnants across the country. But despite a more than decade-long attempt to eradicate them, the Taliban endured—regrouping and reestablishing themselves as a significant insurgent movement. Gradually they have regained control of large portions of Afghanistan even as U.S. troops are preparing to depart from the region. In his authoritative and highly readable account, author Hassan Abbas examines how the Taliban not only survived but adapted to their situation in order to regain power and political advantage. Abbas traces the roots of religious extremism in the area and analyzes the Taliban’s support base within Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. In addition, he explores the roles that Western policies and military decision making—not to mention corruption and incompetence in Kabul—have played in enabling the Taliban’s return to power.

The Return of the Taliban

The Return of the Taliban PDF

Author: Hassan Abbas

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 0300267886

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The first account of the new Taliban--showing who they are, what they want, and how they differ from their predecessors A Newsweek Staffers' Favorite Book of 2023 Since the fall of Kabul in 2021, the Taliban have effective control of Afghanistan--a scenario few Western commentators anticipated. But after a twenty-year-long bitter war against the Republic of Afghanistan, reestablishing control is a complex procedure. What is the Taliban's strategy now that they've returned to power? In this groundbreaking new account, Hassan Abbas examines the resurgent Taliban as ruptures between moderates and the hardliners in power continue to widen. The group is now facing debilitating threats--from humanitarian crises to the Islamic State in Khorasan--but also engaging on the world stage, particularly with China and central Asian states. Making considered use of sources and contacts in the region, and offering profiles of major Taliban leaders, Return of the Taliban is the essential account of the movement as it develops and consolidates its grasp on Afghanistan.

The Taliban Revival

The Taliban Revival PDF

Author: Hassan Abbas

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2014-06-24

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 0300178840

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The true story of the Taliban’s remarkable resurgence in Pakistan and war-torn Afghanistan more than a decade after the U.S. military’s post-9/11 incursion In autumn 2001, U.S. and NATO troops were deployed to Afghanistan to unseat the Taliban rulers, repressive Islamic fundamentalists who had lent active support to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda jihadists. The NATO forces defeated and dismantled the Taliban government, scattering its remnants across the country. But despite a more than decade-long attempt to eradicate them, the Taliban endured—regrouping and reestablishing themselves as a significant insurgent movement. Gradually they have regained control of large portions of Afghanistan even as U.S. troops are preparing to depart from the region. In his authoritative and highly readable account, author Hassan Abbas examines how the Taliban not only survived but adapted to their situation in order to regain power and political advantage. Abbas traces the roots of religious extremism in the area and analyzes the Taliban’s support base within Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. In addition, he explores the roles that Western policies and military decision making— not to mention corruption and incompetence in Kabul—have played in enabling the Taliban’s resurgence.

Revival from Below

Revival from Below PDF

Author: Brannon D. Ingram

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2018-11-20

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 0520970136

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The Deoband movement—a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam that quickly spread from colonial India to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and even the United Kingdom and South Africa—has been poorly understood and sometimes feared. Despite being one of the most influential Muslim revivalist movements of the last two centuries, Deoband’s connections to the Taliban have dominated the attention it has received from scholars and policy-makers alike. Revival from Below offers an important corrective, reorienting our understanding of Deoband around its global reach, which has profoundly shaped the movement’s history. In particular, the author tracks the origins of Deoband’s controversial critique of Sufism, how this critique travelled through Deobandi networks to South Africa, as well as the movement’s efforts to keep traditionally educated Islamic scholars (`ulama) at the center of Muslim public life. The result is a nuanced account of this global religious network that argues we cannot fully understand Deoband without understanding the complex modalities through which it spread beyond South Asia.

The Prophet's Heir

The Prophet's Heir PDF

Author: Hassan Abbas

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2021-02-23

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0300252056

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The life and legacy of one of Mohammad’s closest confidants and Islam’s patron saint: Ali ibn Abi Talib Ali ibn Abi Talib is arguably the single most important spiritual and intellectual authority in Islam after prophet Mohammad. Through his teachings and leadership as fourth caliph, Ali nourished Islam. But Muslims are divided on whether he was supposed to be Mohammad’s political successor—and he continues to be a polarizing figure in Islamic history. Hassan Abbas provides a nuanced, compelling portrait of this towering yet divisive figure and the origins of sectarian division within Islam. Abbas reveals how, after Mohammad, Ali assumed the spiritual mantle of Islam to spearhead the movement that the prophet had led. While Ali’s teachings about wisdom, justice, and selflessness continue to be cherished by both Shia and Sunni Muslims, his pluralist ideas have been buried under sectarian agendas and power politics. Today, Abbas argues, Ali’s legacy and message stands against that of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Taliban.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan PDF

Author: Tim Bird

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 0300154585

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Examines why the West has failed to achieve its objectives in Afghanistan, discussing the country's drug trade, political corruption, troubled relations with Pakistan, and harsh terrain, and the lessons about nation building that can be learned from the experience.

Bad Moon Rising

Bad Moon Rising PDF

Author: Hank Bordowitz

Publisher: Chicago Review Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1569769842

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Rightly called the saddest story in rock 'n' roll history, this Creedence biography--newly updated with stories from band members, producers, business associates, close friends, and families--recounts the tragic and triumphant tale of one of America's most beloved bands. Hailed as the great American rock band from 1968 to 1971, Creedence Clearwater Revival captured the imaginations of a generation with classic hits like "Proud Mary," "Down on the Corner," "Green River," "Born on the Bayou," and "Who'll Stop the Rain." Mounting tensions among bandmates over vibrant guitarist and lead vocalist John Fogerty's creative control led to the band's demise. Tracing the lives of four musicians who redefined an American roots-rock sound with unequaled passion and power, this music biography exposes the bitter end and abandoned talent of a band left crippled by debt and dissension.

Jihad

Jihad PDF

Author: Ahmed Rashid

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2002-12-31

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0142002607

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An essential examination of the roots of fundamentalist rage in Central Asia, from the acclaimed author of Taliban and Descent into Chaos. Ahmed Rashid, whose masterful account of Afghanistan's Taliban regime became required reading after September 11, turns his legendary skills as an investigative journalist to five adjacent Central Asian Republics—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—where religious repression, political corruption, and extreme poverty have created a fertile climate for militant Islam. Based on groundbreaking research and numerous interviews, Rashid explains the roots of fundamentalist rage in Central Asia, describes the goals and activities of its militant organizations, including Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, and suggests ways of neutralizing the threat and bringing stability to the troubled region. A timely and pertinent work, Jihad is essential reading for anyone who seeks to gain a better understanding of a region we overlook at our peril.

No Good Men Among the Living

No Good Men Among the Living PDF

Author: Anand Gopal

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2014-04-29

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 0805091793

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Told through the lives of three Afghans, the stunning tale of how the United States had triumph in sight in Afghanistan--and then brought the Taliban back from the dead In a breathtaking chronicle, acclaimed journalist Anand Gopal traces in vivid detail the lives of three Afghans caught in America's war on terror. He follows a Taliban commander, who rises from scrawny teenager to leading insurgent; a US-backed warlord, who uses the American military to gain personal wealth and power; and a village housewife trapped between the two sides, who discovers the devastating cost of neutrality. Through their dramatic stories, Gopal shows that the Afghan war, so often regarded as a hopeless quagmire, could in fact have gone very differently. Top Taliban leaders actually tried to surrender within months of the US invasion, renouncing all political activity and submitting to the new government. Effectively, the Taliban ceased to exist--yet the Americans were unwilling to accept such a turnaround. Instead, driven by false intelligence from their allies and an unyielding mandate to fight terrorism, American forces continued to press the conflict, resurrecting the insurgency that persists to this day. With its intimate accounts of life in war-torn Afghanistan, Gopal's thoroughly original reporting lays bare the workings of America's longest war and the truth behind its prolonged agony. A heartbreaking story of mistakes and misdeeds, No Good Men Among the Living challenges our usual perceptions of the Afghan conflict, its victims, and its supposed winners.