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Afghanistan
- A Cultural and Political History
- Narrated by: Robin Bloodworth
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
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Afghanistan
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Summary
Afghanistan traces the historic struggles and the changing nature of political authority in this volatile region of the world, from the Mughal Empire in the 16th century to the Taliban resurgence today. Thomas Barfield introduces listeners to the bewildering diversity of tribal and ethnic groups in Afghanistan, explaining what unites them as Afghans despite the regional, cultural, and political differences that divide them. He shows how governing these peoples was relatively easy when power was concentrated in a small dynastic elite, but how this delicate political order broke down in the 19th and 20th centuries when Afghanistan's rulers mobilized rural militias to expel first the British and later the Soviets.
Armed insurgency proved remarkably successful against the foreign occupiers, but it also undermined the Afghan government's authority and rendered the country ever more difficult to govern as time passed. Barfield vividly describes how Afghanistan's armed factions plunged the country into a civil war, giving rise to clerical rule by the Taliban and Afghanistan's isolation from the world. He examines why the American invasion in the wake of September 11 toppled the Taliban so quickly, and how this easy victory lulled the United States into falsely believing that a viable state could be built just as easily.
Afghanistan is essential listening for anyone who wants to understand how a land conquered and ruled by foreign dynasties for more than a thousand years became the "graveyard of empires" for the British and Soviets, and what the United States must do to avoid a similar fate.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Suneil
- 08-06-20
Underplayed US funding of Islamists
Really pleased I listened to it but I thought it didn’t fairly describe the affect of IIS, Saudi and US intervention and subsequent problems in a balanced way.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mena
- 13-02-22
Not too bad
Barfields research and knowledge about Afghanistan is commendable.
He does a good job of portraying the historic events but you occasionally get glimpses into the biases he holds.
Some aspects are glossed over while others are explored in full detail. For example he mentions that the war in Afghanistan was a lower priority to Bush and the drastic increase of soilders in the country during the Obama era. But even though the Wiki Leaks documents on the war in Afghanistan were out long before this book came out there is no mention to the war crimes that were committed at all.
Similarly, Russia's war in Afghanistan is covered in great detail while America's backing and funding of terrorist groups to fight them is not coreverd. These are two examples of many such instances where you don't get the full picture.
It's certainly worth listening to but not at all comprehensive in explaining Afghanistan's political and cultural history.
Also, Robin Bloodworth's narration is just unbelievably cring worthy at times. The way he pronounces some Afghan words is god awful. It is important to have chosen someone that had even a loose grasp of some of the words or phrases. I believe Barfield himself having spent time in Afghanistan would have done a better job.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bill
- 11-12-12
Great overview of Afghanistan's history
What made the experience of listening to Afghanistan the most enjoyable?
Interesting perspective on tribal/cultural dynamics. Goes more in depth into actual Afghan historical politics vs. the more traditional US foreign policy-perspective books which are more widely published.
4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- R. Taylor
- 08-04-19
Interesting content, poor production
The historical background and social context this book brings to its examination of Afghanistan is very interesting. The Audible production, however, is terrible.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 27-08-21
Book good, production atrocious.
The book is great. It's an interesting overview of an area where those aren't particularly easy to find. The narrator is fine as well. Someone should check on whoever produced this audiobook, though. It is awfully produced. It constantly has segments spliced in to the reading which sound really out of place. I think it's by the same narrator but surely recorded on a different day or in different circumstance because they sound so different that every time it happens it's incredibly grating. It's not infrequent either. It happens all the time. I assume it was done because the missed something in the original reading, but how is it possible that they needed to do that so often? Did the book change in the middle of the making of the audiobook?
It's a real shame for an otherwise enjoyable and interesting book.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Akmal Noorzai
- 14-09-19
Good details but....
I see too much of northern Afghanistan’s influence in his writing. That makes it less of an overall history of Afghanistan and more history of northern Afghanistan and their role in the region.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Curtis A Williamson
- 05-09-18
Awful narration
Great content, but possibly the worst narration I've listened to. Inconsistent pronunciation, using absurd accents for quotes, etc.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Calvert
- 06-01-23
Enlightening
Comprehensive and insightful breakdown of Afghanistan’s history. Why do I need to have atleast 15 words? It’s silly.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Chad Lemme
- 06-12-22
Great overall
This is a great book overall. The negatives first though. The narrator’s voice changes every few paragraphs, and it’s weird, but for an adhd person like me, it kept snapping me back to the story and kept my attention. Hahah maybe a good or bad thing. Also, this thing is long and dry, and occasionally a little redundant, but it is definitely complete, and easy to soak up and retain the information.
The better aspects of this book are how it’s presented and put together. If you’re a serious history dork like I am, this is a great book. It fully explains the history, cultures, politics, religion, war, society, all of it, and fills in the entire timeline of each. But that’s all I’ve got
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Roy Nesari
- 23-10-22
Almost fiction
History of Afghanistan is so murky,
It’s hard to know what’s true and what’s not. And The narrator butchered just about every pronunciation, it was a painful listen.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 05-05-22
why is the narration such a mess?
The story is extremely detailed to the point of being somewhat boring, but narration is just horrible! Why does he keep changing voices (and possibly mics) randomly between lines? Once or twice is acceptable, but fifteen times a chapter really?
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Leigh Ann Weber
- 09-02-22
Valuable History - issues with the narration
I confess I'm about 2/3 through this book... I am enjoying it, and wish it would continue to the present turbulent times in Afghanistan...maybe there will be an updated edition one day? My MAIN complaint is that there are a LOT of spliced in portions in narrative... like the book was edited and they had to then edit the recording? it happens a lot, and it's a bit distracting. It would be nice to get an explanation of what happened here - but I doubt that will be forthcoming.. overall, I recommend this title for folks (like me) who have little to no knowledge of the rich and interesting history of this troubled country.