Afghanistan Seen Through Different Lenses

Multiple book review essay on

Globalizing Afghanistan. Terrorism, War and the Rhetoric of Nation Building. Edited by Zubida Jalalzai and David Jefferess. Durham: Duke University Press, 2011. 232 pp., $20.66 paperback (ISBN-13: 978-0-822-35014-9)

Dynamics of Political Development in Afghanistan. The British, Russian and American Invasions. By Hafizullah Emadi. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. 316 pp., $100.00 hardcover (ISBN-13:978-0-230-10389-4).

These two books exemplify the extraordinarily wide range of interests, sentiments, political sensibilities, and even scholarly pursuits of theory development that the latest war in Afghanistan has generated. Globalizing Afghanistan is a collection of essays by a group of North American academics trained in literary criticism, cultural and feminist studies, and the history of regions other than Central Asia. It tells us little about the Afghan conflict, but indicates how some Westernbased intellectuals relate to the conflict in terms of theoretical paradigms and political engagement. Dynamics of Political Development in Afghanistan is an engaged narrative of modern Afghan history written by an Afghan scholar (with a Ph.D. from the United States) and social activist. Hafizullah Emadi’s narrative voices sentiments that are increasingly heard among Afghan reformist intellectuals—anger, critical awareness, and, perhaps, some hope.