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Games without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan

Page 44

by Tamim Ansary


  c

  Silo was a boondoggle at first because it produced bagels mostly, and Afghans far preferred their own slipper-shaped whole wheat flatbread. But tastes change, and today Silo is still a working bakery.

  d

  Amanullah doesn’t count: he was a populist but did not officially relinquish one drop of royal authority.

  Copyright © 2012 by Tamim Ansary

  Published in the United States by PublicAffairs™,

  a Member of the Perseus Books Group

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address PublicAffairs, 250 West 57th Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10107.

  PublicAffairs books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the US by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail special.markets@perseusbooks.com.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Ansary, Mir Tamim.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  eISBN : 978-1-610-39095-8

  3. Military occupation—History. 4. British—Afghanistan—History. 5. Russians—Afghanistan—History. 6. Americans—Afghanistan—History. 7. Afghanistan—Strategic aspects. 8. Afghanistan—Politics and government. I. Title.

  DS361.A755 2012

  958.1—dc23

  2012025651

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Introduction

  PART I: AFGHANISTAN BECOMES A COUNTRY

  Chapter 1 - Founding Father

  Chapter 2 - Ahmad Shah’s Afghanistan

  Chapter 3 - Farangis on the Horizon

  Chapter 4 - Between the Lion and the Bear

  Chapter 5 - Auckland’s Folly

  Chapter 6 - The Second Coming of Dost Mohammed

  Chapter 7 - Eight or Ten Good Years

  Chapter 8 - Interrupted Again

  PART II: ONE COUNTRY, TWO WORLDS

  Chapter 9 - A Time of Blood and Iron

  Chapter 10 - Starting Fresh

  Chapter 11 - King of the Radicals

  Chapter 12 - King’s Law Versus God’s Law

  Chapter 13 - Things Fall Apart

  PART III: KABUL RULES

  Chapter 14 - After the Storm

  Chapter 15 - Nonaligned Nation

  Chapter 16 - Development, No Brakes

  Chapter 17 - The Democracy Era

  Chapter 18 - Rise of the Left

  Chapter 19 - Change by Decree

  Chapter 20 - The Soviet Occupation

  PART IV: OLD AFGHANISTAN ERUPTS

  Chapter 21 - The Mujahideen

  Chapter 22 - Cold War Endgame

  Chapter 23 - From Horror to Chaos

  Chapter 24 - Out of the Camps

  Chapter 25 - Taliban Versus Mujahideen

  Chapter 26 - Al Qaeda

  Chapter 27 - America Enters the Picture

  PART V: THE STRUGGLE RESUMES

  Chapter 28 - The Bonn Project

  Chapter 29 - Kabul Spring

  Chapter 30 - The Persistence of Trouble

  Chapter 31 - Drugs and Corruption

  Chapter 32 - Talibanism

  Chapter 33 - The Tipping Point

  Chapter 34 - Obama’s Surges

  Chapter 35 - All That Glitters

  Postscript - The Big Picture

  Acknowledgments

  NOTES

  GLOSSARY

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  INDEX

  Copyright Page

 

 

 


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