The Afghanistan Wars provides a meticulously documented account of these waves of conflict. It explores, in detail the roots of Afghanistan's slide into disorder in the late 1970s, how the Soviet Union came to the rescue of unworthy clients and was then sucked into a quagmire, the frightening consequences of state breakdown and self-interested meddling by Afghanistan's neighbours in the period after communist rule collapsed, and the rise and fall of the Taliban. Incisive and informative, the book mounts a compelling case for partnership with the Afghans as they seek to reassemble their lives.