© Columbia University Press
Koran, Kalashnikov, and Laptop: The Neo-Taliban Insurgency in Afghanistan 2002-2007
Paper, 224 pages, 8 maps
ISBN: 978-0-231-70010-8
$18.50
November, 2007
Cloth, 224 pages, 8 maps
ISBN: 978-0-231-70009-2
$24.95
"This detailed study . . . chronicles the rise of what Giustozzi labels 'the neo-Taliban'. Separate chapters treat how and why the neo-Taliban were recruited, their organization, their tactics and strategy, and the counterinsurgency efforts of the Afghan government and its outside supporters. With copious cross-referencing, he works in such subjects as
the continued involvement of Pakistan, the drug trade, neo-Taliban relations with Al Qaeda, and the rural-versus-urban dimension of this struggle. There are also several perceptive comparisons with insurgencies elsewhere in the world. [Giustozzi] concludes that reining in the neo-Taliban by arms or diplomacy will be more difficult now than reining in the original was five years ago. He also sees the group's strategy as having shifted in its new form from national resistance to global jihad.'" — Foreign Affairs
"A revelatory new book." — Asia Times
"An important book as it shows the evolution of the movement [of the Taliban] into a more lethal entity . . . Current, relevant, and thought-provoking." — Lester W. Grau, Journal of Military History
"The definitive volume on the resurgent Taliban for policymakers, diplomats, and military leaders . . . a must-read." — Kevin D. Stringer, Military Review
"An excellent recent publication." — International Socialist Review
"A timely and relevant collection" — Middle East Quarterly
"This book fills the gap in the current scholarship on the neo-Taliban. It benefits from the author's entertainment of deep thinking and cross-analyses of facts and figures. While ambitious, by strictly confining himself to developments occurring between 2002 and 2007, Antonio Giustiozzi has succeeded in providing a valid framework for exploration of the nature of the political in Afghanistan in general and the resurgent Taliban in particular." — Amalendu Misra, author of Afghanistan: The Labyrinth of Violence
"Koran, Kalashnikov, and Laptop provides a balanced, objective, and unsensationalized consideration of the emergence of the neo-Taliban, taking on board the many perspectives and insights provided by numerous actors and analysts while also drawing on the author's own conclusions. In so doing, it covers new and important ground in research on Afghanistan." — Peter Marsden, author of The Taliban: War, Religion, and the New Order in Afghanistan
"This book fills the gap in the current scholarship on the neo-Taliban. It benefits from the author's entertainment of deep thinking and cross-analyses of facts and figures. While ambitious, by strictly confining himself to developments occurring between 2002 and 2007, Antonio Giustiozzi has succeeded in providing a valid framework for exploration of the nature of the political in Afghanistan in general and the resurgent Taliban in particular." — Amalendu Misra, author of Afghanistan: The Labyrinth of Violence