Afghanistan : Challenges and Opportunities (3 Vols-Set)

Contents: Vol. I. The Crisis: Preface. Acknowledgements. 1. Afghanistan and India: historico-cultural perspective/Lokesh Chandra. 2. Ethnicity and politics in Afghanistan/Manmath Narayan Singh. 3. Afghanistan and the quest for Central Asian Resources/Frederic Grare. 4. The Afghan conundrum: light weapons and state collapse/Ajay Darshan Behera. 5. Refugee situation in Afghanistan/Yahya Maroofi. 6. Position of women in Afghanistan/Arpita Basu Roy. 7. The Taliban view of Jihad and the Islamic precepts/Sultan Shahin. 8. The Taliban phenomenon and the security environment/Afsir Karim. 9. The Pakistan-Afghanistan cauldron: the global perspective/Vinod Saighal. 10. Afghanistan: source of religious extremism and terrorism for Central Asia/Alexander Knyazev. 11. The Taliban phenomenon: regional security implications for Central Asia/Leonid Kusmenovich Bakayev. 12. Afghanistan problem: Russian and Central Asian responses/Devendra Kaushik. 13. Afghanistan and cross-border terrorism in the CIS/Mahendra Ved. 14. An international approach to Afghanistan's future/Marvin G. Weinbaum. 15. The role of outside actors in Afghanistan/Amin Saikal. 16. Confronting creeping invasions: Afghanistan, the UN and the world community/William Maley. 17. Taliban and external powers/Sreedhar. 18. United States, Taliban and crisis in Afghanistan/B.K. Shrivastava. 19. United Nations and the Afghanistan situation: the Taliban era/C.S.R. Murthy. 20. India's Afghan Policy: emerging from the cold/S.D. Muni. 21. Shadow of Afghanistan over Kashmir/K. Warikoo. 22. Pakistan's policy in Afghanistan/Kalim Bahadur. 23. Pakistan-Afghan relations, 1994-2000/Mutahir Ahmed. 24. China's Afghan Policy: limitations versus leverages/Swaran Singh. 25. Iran and Afghanistan: conflict of strategic interest and perception/Smruti S. Pattanaik. 26. Osama bin Laden, international terrorism and Afghanistan/Savita Pandey. Appendices. Index.

Vol. II. The Challenges: Preface. 1. Rebuilding the Afghan state: the international dimension/Marvin G. Weinbaum and Andrew Finkelman. 2. Challenges to democratization, peace and stability in Afghanistan/Apratim Mukarji. 3. Problems and prospects of Constitutional Government in Afghanistan/Uma Shankar. 4. Afghan drugs and European markets/Ramtanu Maitra. 5. Afghanistan and Central Asia: differentiated challenges and priorities in the 21 century/Vijay Kapur. 6. US Policy towards post-September 11 Afghanistan/B.K. Shrivastava. 7. Pakistan's Afghanistan Policy: post 9/11/Kalim Bahadur. 8. In pursuit of strategic depth: the changing dynamics of Pakistan's Afghan Policy/Smruti S. Pattanaik. 9. India and Afghanistan: renewing economic relations/Amiya Chandra. 10. Afghanistan factor in Kashmir crisis/K. Warikoo. 11. The Taliban resurrection and the changing course of Afghan Civil War/Vishal Chandra. Appendices. Index.

Vol. III. Drugs Production and Trafficking: Foreword. Preface. Acknowledgements. I. Introduction: 1. History. 2. Afghanistan during the Cold War period. 3. The ethnic framework. 4. A pastoral economy. 5. A war-based economy. II. The Mujahideen and Drug Lords: 1. The Mujahideen. 2. Drug trade finances the Jihad. 3. Freedom fighters or drug peddlers. 4. The Drug Lords and their masters. III. The Taliban --patrons of the drug trade: 1. The Taliban. 2. Drugs -- the mainstay of the Taliban economy. 3. A well-oiled narcotics network. 4. The post-September 11, 2001 scenario. IV. Afghanistan -- centre of narcotics production and drug trafficking: 1. A background to regional politics. 2. The growth in opium production in Afghanistan. 3. Trafficking, regional consumption and abuse. V. Drug money and the arms trade: 1. Arms for drugs. VI. Implications for regional security. 7. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.

"Located at the crossroads of Central, South and West Asia and sharing its borders with Central Asia on the north, Chinese province of Xinjiang in the East, Iran on the West and South West, and Pakistan and Pak-occupied Kashmir on the South and South East, Afghanistan occupies a unique geo-strategic position in the region. During the past quarter century, Afghanistan has remained turbulent posing great challenges to peace and security in and around the region. The threat posed by the Taliban and Al Qaeda led by Osama Bin Laden to world peace and security has been universally recognised. September 11, 2001 incident marked a new phase in contemporary Afghanistan. Notwithstanding the relentless reconstruction efforts in the country by the international community after the US-led war on terror, Afghanistan has been witnessing political instability and resurgence of Taliban. The rising narcotics cultivation, despite bans and eradication programmes sponsored by the UN and various international NGOs, has further aggravated the situation there. Even during the United Nations' Decade against Drug Abuse (1991-2001), Afghanistan earned the mantle of being at the centre of the global narcotics trade.

In this set of three books, the first one presents various perspectives on the Afghanistan crisis deliberating upon various issues ranging from ethno-politics, politics of access to Central Asian oil and gas, human rights, refugee situation, position of women, role and response of regional and extra-regional powers, rise of Taliban and its implications for peace and security in Central and South Asia. The second book analyses the post-9/11 developments in Afghanistan, with particular reference to the rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan, challenges to democratisation, peace and stability, problem of narcotics trafficking and resurgence of Taliban. The third book examines the extent and pattern of drugs trade in Afghanistan besides unravelling the close connection between the arms trade and drug money from the time of the Afghan Jihad till date. It gives an insight into the impact of arms-for-trade economy in Afghanistan upon both its immediate neighbours and other countries in the region. Eminent area specialists and Afghanistan experts from India, Australia, Central Asian Republics, Pakistan, and United States have contributed to this compact set which provides deep insight into the situation in Afghanistan covering the past two and a half decades in particular." (jacket)