Author: Hiro, Dilip
Publication year: c2012.
Language: English
Call Number BP63.P2 H57 2012
Media class: Book
Publisher: New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300173789 0300173784
Extent: ix, 355 p. : maps ; 25 cm.
Description: This book explores the roots of militant Islam in South Asia and how it has grown to become a source of profound global alarm. By meticulously tracking the rise of the jihadist movement from its initial violence in Afghanistan in 1980 to the present day, the author challenges conventional narratives of the roles of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Soviet Union, the United States, and India. He warns that the Line of Control in Kashmir, where jihadists seek to incite war between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India, is today the most dangerous border in the world. Drawing on evidence from a wide variety of sources including newly released Kremlin archives and classified U.S. Embassy documents published by WikiLeaks, the author compiles the first complete and accurate history of Islamist terrorism in South Asia. He chronicles historic links between Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India and their varying degrees of destabilization at the hands of the jihadists. He also sheds unprecedented light on the close military and intelligence links that have developed between India and Israel. Finally, he outlines the ambitions of Pakistani, Afghan, and Al Qaeda jihadists to establish an "apocalyptic realm" covering South, Central, and Western Asia.
The Sufi connection -- Afghanistan and Pakistan -- The Afghan trap -- The rise and rise of the Taliban -- Target Kashmir -- India, Israel, and America -- Liberating Indian Kashmir -- Zia ul Haq : the Islamist dictator -- Indian Muslims amidst Hindu revivalism -- Pakistan's jihadists -- A corrupt regime, a vengeful Taliban -- Afghanistan : a second Vietnam -- Fighting extremism -- Apocalyptic futures.