Author(s): Stephen Tanner

History

This is a revised up-to-date edition of the only complete military history of Afghanistan containing the most recent information about Taliban resurgence. For over 2,500 years, the forbidding territory of Afghanistan has served as a vital crossroads for armies and has witnessed history-shaping clashes between civilizations - Greeks, Arabs, Mongols, and Tartars, and in more recent times, Britain, Russia, and America. Following the events of September 11, 2001, British and American troops entered this land - land that for centuries has become a graveyard of empires. By spring 2002, the Afghan Taliban regime had been defeated, and the terrorists it harboured were on the run. But the allies' easy victory then is in sharp contrast to the difficulties they face today as they confront the Taliban's resurgence. Is it possible that Afghans were merely eyeing the newcomers in 2001 as they had watched foreign armies in centuries past, knowing time is on their side?Afghanistan illuminates the broad historical context into which our forces have been drawn - a cautionary tale, perhaps, about the dangers that confront the West today.