Afghan resistance [electronic resource] : the politics of survival / edited by Grant M. Farr and John G. Merriam.

First published 1987 by Westview Press, Inc.

Cover; Half Title; About the Book and Editors; Title; Copyright; Contents; Foreword; Introduction; 1 Origins of the Anti-Soviet Jihad; 2 Leadership Dilemmas: Challenges and Responses; 3 Arms Shipments to the Afghan Resistance; 4 Afghan Refugee Women and Their Struggle for Survival; 5 The New Afghan Middle Class as Refugees and Insurgents; 6 Rationales for the Movement of Afghan Refugees to Peshawar; 7 Humanitarian Response to an Inhuman Strategy; Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based upon print version of record.

The people of Afghanistan stand at a crossroads, with resistance to the Soviet occupation entering its eighth year. The question of survival must be weighed against the difficult political choices of fighting or reaching an accommodation with the Soviet-backed Kabul regime. The vast majority choose to continue the struggle--aided in part by covert arms shipments--and to search for a uniquely Afghan nationalism despite rumors of an impending USSR-U.S. deal whereby, in return for Soviet troop withdrawal and cessation of arms aid to the Mujahideen, Afghanistan and Pakistan would become neutral Muslim nations. Drawing on Afghan cultural and historical background, this collection of original essays provides fresh insights into the nature of the Afghan conflict, the country's threatened national infrastructure, the continuing decimation of its citizens, and the prospects for their survival. Showing that popular resistance is not limited to the Mujahideen, or freedom fighters, but encompasses the Afghan people as a whole, the contributors examine the impact of the world's largest refugee population on the shape of the future Afghanistan. Based on their extensive firsthand experience in the region, the contributors provide an interdisciplinary analysis of a country, a people, and a war still too little known to the outside world.

Grant M. Farr is professor and head of the Department of Sociology, Portland State University, Oregon. John G. Merriam is associate professor in the Department of Political Science, Bowling Green State University, Ohio.

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