Afghanistan from the Cold War through the War on Terror

Barnett R. Rubin is Director of Studies and Senior Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. His books include Blood on the Doorstep: The Politics of Preventive Action, The Fragmentation of Afghanistan, and The Search for Peace in Afghanistan.

• Part 1: Before 9/11 ; Introduction: "Helping Afghanistan" 1998 ; "Afghanistan under the Taliban" 1999 ; "Afghanistan: The Last Cold-War Conflict, the First Post-Cold War Conflict" 2000 ; "Afghanistan: The Forgotten Crisis" 1996 ; "The Political Economy of War and Peace in Afghanistan" 2000 ; "Women and Pipelines: Afghanistan's Proxy Wars" 1997 ; "Arab Islamists in Afghanistan" 1997 ; "Afghanistan: Reconstruction and Peacebuilding in a Regional Framework," With Ashraf Ghani, William Maley, Ahmed Rashid, and Olivier Roy, 2001 ; Part 2: Reconstructing Afghanistan? ; Introduction: "Afghans Can Be Our Allies," New York Times, September 22, 2001 ; "A Blueprint for Afghanistan" 2002 ; "Peace Building, State Building: Constructing Sovereignty for Security" 2005 ; "The Politics of Security in State-Building" ; "The Politics of Center-Periphery Relations in Afghanistan" With Helena Malikyar 2003 ; "Transitional Justice and Human Rights in Afghanistan" 2003 ; "The Political Context of Public Administration in Afghanistan" 2007 ; "Crafting a Constitution for Afghanistan" 2004 ; "Regional Issues in the Reconstruction of Afghanistan" With Andrea Armstrong 2003 ; "From Bonn to London: Governance Challenges and the Future of Statebuilding in Afghanistan" With Humayun Hamidzada, 2007 ; Part 3: Contesting Afghanistan ; Introduction: "The Death of an Afghan Optimist" 2006 ; "Afghanistan's Uncertain Transition from Turmoil to Normalcy" 2006 ; "Saving Afghanistan" 2007 ; "Pashtun and Taliban in Two States" ; "U.S. and Iran in Afghanistan" With Sara Batmanglich ; "Counter-Narcotics to Stabilize Afghanistan: The False Promise of Crop Eradication" With Jake Sherman 2008 ; "Afghan Dilemmas: Defining Commitment" 2008 ; "The Transformation of the State in Afghanistan" 2008 ; "From Great Game to Grand Bargain: Ending Chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan" With Ahmed Rashid 2008 ; Conclusion ; "A Tribe Apart" 2009 ; Appendix ; "Afghanistan 2005 and Beyond: Prospects for Improved Stability" 2005

A longtime policy wonk and adviser to the U.N. and the U.S., Rubin spent decades deliberating upon best practices for saving Afghanistan from its chronic tribulations. His sustained analyses and advocacy are compiled here, addressing a time frame from the late 1980s to the start of the Obama administration. Rubin makes important points along the way . . . Rubin's work serves as a timely codicil, if not a coda, to a war winding down, and will interest pundits and academics alike.