An Enemy We Created The Myth of the Taliban/Al Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan, 1970-2010 Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn ‘This book is one of the best informed, most sophisticated, and most insightful works yet to appear on the Afghan Taliban and their relationship to Al Qaeda. It makes a brilliant contribution to Afghan historiography, and should be compulsory reading for Western policymakers working on Afghanistan today.’ –– Professor Anatol Lieven, King’s College London and author of Pakistan: A Hard Country
January 2012
552pp
Hardback 9781849041546 £30.00
Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn are researchers and writers permanently based in Kandahar. They have worked in Afghanistan since 2006, focusing on the Taliban insurgency and the history of southern Afghanistan over the past four decades and are the editors of the acclaimed memoir of Abdul Salam Zaeef, My Life With the Taliban, published by Hurst in 2010.
The Afghan Way of War Culture and Pragmatism: A Critical History Rob Johnson ‘For many observers Afghanistan, its people, and their conflicts remain mysterious, explicable primarily through vaguely Orientalist constructs of ‘culture’ or ‘tribe.’ Johnson helps explain The Afghan Way of War as Afghans themselves understand it. As such, this impressive work is an important contribution to the study of Afghanistan.’ –– David Kilcullen, author of Counterinsurgency and The Accidental Guerilla ‘The Afghan Way of War is a superb book. Its careful historical analysis makes it essential reading for anyone interested in understanding Afghanistan - and, perhaps more importantly, Afghans themselves.’ –– Seth G. Jones, author of In the Graveyard of Empires: America’s War in Afghanistan September 2011
256pp
Hardback 9781849041065 £25.00 22 | SOUTH ASIA
Rob Johnson is Lecturer in the History of War at Oxford University and Deputy Director of the Oxford Changing Character of War Programme.