TheUnitedStatesmoved into Afghanistanin2001,chasingoutOsama bin Ladenas well astheTalibanfrom power.Twenty years later,itpulledout of Afghanistan andtheTalibanreturned to Kabul!The Afghanistangovernment, too,safelyvanished hoursbeforetheTalibanentered the city.What was the trajectory of this bizarre turn of events? DidtheUS achievetheoriginal goalsof its operation in Afghanistan?Why did it taketwenty years to end the war on terrorherewhenit could finishthisin Iraq in abouteightyears?DidtheTaliban play a role in helpingtheUS achieve its goals? How is Taliban 2.0 different from Taliban 1.0?Apart from such vexing questions,GlocalTerror inSouth Asia: Tracing the Roots in Geopoliticsand the Tragedy of Afghanistanexploresthe';silent' upgradation of a localAfghanjihad against the SovietUnionwiththemobilization of Arabsinto the theatre. Theensuinggeopoliticscreated the conditions forthe rise ofaglobal jihadfromtheAf-Pak region.Osama bin Laden foundedAl Qaeda inPeshawarandits allies sprang up across South Asia and far beyond, sometimesevenwith the support of state actors. The destiny of Afghanistan and South Asia changed forever. Andfault lines within South Asia deepenedfurther.The story, though,is not overyetsincethe region and the larger world havenowentered a phase ofgreaterinsecurity and instability.InGlocalTerror in South Asia,Anju Gupta, a well-known commentator on security matters,analyses the course of events fromthe late 1970sonwardsthat led us to this point, andpredicts potential black swan eventsthat the region, and the world, should pay heed to.
