This monograph aims to provide military leaders, civil servants, diplomats, and students with the intellectual basis they need to prepare for further study or for assignments in Afghanistan, a nation that has been at war for 33-years...By analyzing the land and its people, recapping Afghan history, and assessing the current situation, this work hopes to set a foundation upon which leaders and scholars can begin their preparation for more specific...

"In 1990, sixty-five year old Barbara Bick joined a peace delegation for what she thought would be her last great adventure, a trip to Afghanistan. Instead, Bick forged an intense commitment to the country, particularly after the Taliban came to power with its fiercely anti-woman policies. She returned in 2001, when most people her age wouldn't dream of trekking through the desolation northern regions of Afghanistan. And there, on September 9, she...

An unflinching, inspirational, and incredibly moving novel based on the true story of Enaiatollah Akbari, a young boy whose agonizing struggle begins after his native Afghanistan becomes a dangerous place to live. His mother shepherds him across the border into Pakistan but has to leave him there to fend for himself.

From a small group of religious students formed in 1994, the Taliban quickly grew into a national movement that occupied all of Afghanistan. Led by the mysterious Mullah Omar, the group established a theocracy based on strict observance of Sharia law. When the Americans overthrew the Taliban in 2001, the United States thought the regime had been defeated. Yet today, nine years later, the Taliban continue to wage a bloody insurgency. In this extraordinary...

Veteran defense analyst and Afghanistan expert David Isby provides an insightful and meticulously researched look at the current situation in Afghanistan, its history, and what he believes must be done so that the US-NATO coalition can succeed in one of the poorest countries in the world, rife with divisions that dwarf current schisms in Iraq, led by warlords who fight over control of the drug trade as much as they do over religion. After seven years...

After barely escaping the unspeakable horrors of her Taliban-controlled homeland, Meena arrives in the U.S. only to have her freedoms stripped again. Now she must convince her lawyer and herself that she is worth fighting for. Inspired by a true story.