The Fragmentation of Afghanistan: State Formation and Collapse in the International System

by Professor Barnett R. Rubin

Afghanistan has long been a country in turmoil. For decades, imperial powers, Islamic fundamentalists, tribal warriors, and communists have struggled for control of a nation that is geographically and ethnically fragmented. Their conflict reached a peak in the fourteen-year-long civil war that erupted in 1978, a war that resulted in the disintegration of Afghanistan as a state.
This fascinating book is a complete analysis of the Afghan civil war, from the 1978 communist coup to the fall of Najibullah, the last Soviet-installed president, in 1992. Drawing on interviews and unpublished private and government documents, Barnett Rubin shows how both the communist regime and the mujahidin (Islamic resistance) recruited leaders and mobilized resources for the conflict, and how international changes - from the election of Ronald Reagan to the collapse of the Soviet Union - affected the Afghan state. Rubin argues that the origins, conduct, and resolution of the war were a function of Afghanistan's connections to the international community, for Afghanistan was incorporated into a state system not of its own making, and foreign financial and military assistance transformed both tribalism and fundamentalism to the point that they are as much creations of international conflict as the resurgence of local traditions. Using theories of state formation and breakdown and of revolution, Rubin provides a comparative framework that makes it possible to integrate this investigation with other studies of Cold War regional conflict and post-Cold War state breakdown.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Middle East

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Humayun Shinwari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most detailed account I ever have read about Afghanistan. Many info that I already had were really matching what Barney Rubin has noted. But again the details are so much that the reader would find it difficult to believe.

I would like to note the last sentence of Mr. Rubin and that can be labled as a political prediction that he had done in the mid-1990s and turned out to be very true. He says: "If the international community does not find ways to rebuild Afghanistan, a flood tide of weapons, cash and contraband will escape that State's porous boundaries and make the world less safe for all."

[Naeem · Rating 3 out of 5]

For professionals only, I would say. You will not find a more detailed analysis of the structures and history of Afghanistan. But it is tough going.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting but oh so long

[Matteo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it in school. It's a very dense, complicated academic book about Afghanistan. Basically, it gives a 20th century history of Afghanistan up to the departure of the Soviet occupiers in 1989. The main difficulty in reading it is the great number of factions and organizations into which Afghanistan was - as the name implies - fragmented.

It ends with a very prescient note (at the light of the Sept. 11th attacks) at the end about the consequences of Soviet and US policies towards Afghanistan.

[sam hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

good but dense