New Delhi: In 2001, following the 11 September attacks in the US, American forces swooped down on Afghanistan, defeating the Talibans and ending their control over the country. What followed was nearly 20 years of military support and financial investment in Afghanistan’s security forces by the US.
Earlier this year, as the US was still pulling out its troops from the country, the Taliban began making a rapid comeback, culminating with the takeover of the country on 15 August.
In his new book, Quest for a Stable Afghanistan: A view from Ground Zero, author Sujeet Sarkar, looks at the Afghanistan conundrum and analyses why lasting peace continues to evade the country, blaming the current crisis on the “faulty” and “haggard” policies of the West. It also touches upon how poppy or opium “is integral to the politics of Afghanistan and deeply entrenched in the conflict engulfing the nation over the last four decades”.
Published by Rupa Publications, Sarkar’s Quest for a Stable Afghanistan will be launched on 16 September on ‘SoftCover’, ThePrint’s e-venue to launch select non-fiction books.
A former global lead of governance with the Aga Khan Foundation, Geneva, Sakar currently works as the global COO for an international aid agency working towards improving the quality of life of marginalised and disadvantaged sections of society across Asia and Africa. He also writes columns regularly on South Asian affairs for leading international dailies.
Quest for a Stable Afganistan: A view from Ground Zero draws from his experiences and observations of 14 years spent working in the country. Though written before the Taliban’s takeover of the country, the book predicted its strong possibility and referred to US intelligence reports that had shown that the Taliban had “grown more lethal and organized in course of this war”.
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