Before Taliban
Subtitle: Genealogies of  the Afghan Jihad
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: April 2, 2002
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 376
ISBN-13: 9780520228610
Subjects: Anthropology; Asian / Middle Eastern history: postwar, from c 1945 -; Asian studies; Biography: general; Political leaders & leadership; Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000; History: World; Customs & Traditions; History - General History; Soviet occupation, 1979-1989; Afghanistan; Middle East - General; Anthropology - Cultural; Anthropology - General; Asia - General; Social Science / Anthropology / General; History; Safi, Samiullah; Saur Revolution, 1978
First sentence: Lowell Thomas needed another adventure.
Description: David B. Edwards traces the lives of three recent Afghan leaders in Afghanistan's history -- Nur Muhammad Taraki, Samiullah Safi, and Qazi Amin Waqad -- to explain how the promise of progress and prosperity that animated Afghanistan in the 1960s crumbled and became the present tragedy of discord, destruction, and despair. Each of the men Edwards profiles were engaged in the political struggles of the country's recent history. They hoped to see Afghanistan become a more just and democratic nation. But their visions for their country were radically different, and in the end, all three failed and were killed or exiled.