Spectre of Afghanistan

Amin Saikal is Adjunct Professor of Social Sciences at the University of Western Australia, and author of ‘Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival’ (2012), and ‘Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic’ (2019)Kirill Nourzhanov is Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at The Australian National University, Australia.

• IntroductionChapter One: Post-2001 Afghanistan Chapter Two: The View from Afghanistan Chapter Three: The View from Central Asia Chapter Four: The Central Asian Response Chapter Five: The Role of the Major Powers Chapter Six: The Challenges Ahead ConclusionIndex

A clearly written, masterfully documented and analyzed book on one of the most menacingly securitized conflicts of our times, it unpacks the long-neglected perceptions and reactions of post-Soviet Central Asian Muslim republics, fearing “spill over” from their soft underbelly, Afghanistan. Nourzhanov, an area specialist focused on Soviet and Post-Soviet Central Asia, and Saikal, a seasoned political scientist focused on Iran, Arab Gulf states and beyond, have teamed-up to produce a work of inestimable value for anyone interested in understanding the domestic, regional and global dimensions of the deepening political turmoil in Afghanistan, and the US policy failures to end its longest war in history. A must read for policy makers, area specialists and the befuddled public.