From a small group of religious students formed in 1994, the Taliban quickly grew into a national movement that occupied all of Afghanistan. When the Americans overthrew the Taliban in 2001, the United States thought the regime had been defeated. Yet today, more than a decade later, the Taliban continue to wage a bloody insurgency. In this extraordinary and compelling account of the rise, fall, and return of the Taliban, award-winning author James Fergusson presents the reality of the movement so often mischaracterized in the press while asking provocative yet necessary questions about the current strategy in Afghanistan.
"This sympathetic and eye-opening account should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand contemporary Afghanistan."--Boston Globe