Book review analysis and interpretation

¶ … Taliban and its impacts on Afghan and world cultures are not easy to discuss within a completely objective framework and in only 153 pages of text. However, Peter Marsden successfully brings several muddled issues into focus in his book the Taliban: War, Religion and the New World Order in Afghanistan. Marsden presents a broad-minded political, historical, religious, and cultural overview of the Taliban, in order to create dialogue and open discussion. By encouraging objectivity toward and resisting criticism of the Taliban, Marsden creates opportunities for meaningful two-way discussions that would otherwise be impossible. In addition to offering background information on the Taliban movement including its origin and various influences, Marsden discusses the difficulties with forming a cohesive diplomatic policy toward the Taliban. Background historical and cultural information on the Taliban is requisite for the creation of any forward-thinking diplomatic policy. Marsen also addresses one of the most sensitive and problematic issues the international community faces in engaging the Taliban in dialogue: human rights. According to the norms and values proposed by the United Nations Human Rights Conventions, as well as by international non-governmental humanitarian organizations and in fact much of the so-called Western world, the Taliban is blatantly guilty of systematic human rights violations. The most notable of these violations regards the treatment of females in Afghan society. Marsden treats the thorny topic with great sensitivity and awareness, devoting an entire chapter of the Taliban to the Taliban's treatment and view of women. Marsden deftly frames complex issues regarding social and cultural norms so that the implied superiority of Western value systems is called into question. The purpose of Marsden's book, therefore, is to help readers set aside prejudices and preconceptions to enter into a more meaningful and productive cross-cultural dialogue, "in the hopes that policies that were more consistent with international norms could be negotiated," (1).

However, dialogue is difficult given the great differences in perspective under the rubric of "international norms" and within the Taliban itself. Moreover, the Taliban represents a complex coalition of converging historical, cultural, religious, political, and economic forces. These forces are also dependent on the specific geo-political setting of Afghanistan. In Chapter Two, Marsden provides his readers with a broad historical overview of Afghanistan itself to show how radical Islam crept into the political and social arenas. Through basic historical and geographical evidence, Marsden provides a foundation for understanding the Taliban, while keeping in mind the Taliban represents by any means a cohesive body of rules. In fact, the author clearly states that there is no written framework of Taliban beliefs or policies; there is no centralized or canonized Taliban ideology. Rather, the Taliban are a multifaceted manifestation of various reactions to Mujahidin movements.

Marsden offers an outline of several of these Islamic political movements early in the book, placing them within historical perspective. Remarkably, Marsden words his descriptions of Mujahidin movements carefully and without judgment-laden terms. Although he uses no footnotes or endnotes in chapter discussions, the author provides a meaty bibliography at the end of the book for further reference. Because of Marsden's purposeful objectivity, most if not all of the information contained in his book the Taliban is purely factual and scholars will have no trouble locating source material. If the lack of primary source material seems to be a weakness of Marsden's book then readers should remember that the Taliban and many other Islamic political movements base their philosophies not on written, codified constitutions but rather on specific interpretations of the Qur'an. Moreover, because Marsden must remain scholarly and objective in his analysis of Taliban-international relations, he takes care to cite only a few relevant primary sources, including a few official public statements made by both sides of the dialogue. For example, in Chapter 5, "The Taliban Creed," Marsden provides a statement made by a Taliban spokesman, Mullah Wakil Ahmed that was published in an Arabic magazine in 1996. The statement, reproduced on pages 60-61 offers some primary source material regarding the formation of the Taliban. The quote backs up what Marsden had proposed during the course of his outline of Taliban history, that the Taliban originated as a popular student movement in reaction to the heavy violence and civil unrest brough on by warring Mujahidin factions.

Marsden does an equally good job of outlining the various international perspectives toward the Taliban as he does of the Taliban itself. In later chapters of the book, Marsden devotes considerable space to illuminating some of the potential cultural and political biases that Western societies and organizations bring to the discussion table. However, Marsden must also remain objective and realistic in his account of Western society. On page 100 the author notes, "It is also important to recognize that western society is no more homogenous than Afghan society." The heterogeneity of the international community and of the Afghan community make Marsden's job more difficult. The author avoids sweeping generalizations about Western and Afghan societies but Marsden does not shy away from necessary summaries of different ideological and theoretical perspectives.

For example, Marsden points especially to the philosophy of individualism present more in Western than Eastern societies as an example of the differences between Afghan and, say, American or European cultural norms. Marsden also refers to the subsequent difficulties in forging communications between humanitarian organizations and the Taliban. Many of these organizations come equipped and willing to help out the Afghan people but inevitably bring with them cultural value systems that cloud objective and unbiased communications. Unfortunately Marsden does not go into any detail about the various organizations that have been involved with Afghanistan or the Taliban. Citing specific examples of NGOs that have been involved with the Taliban or Afghani society would have been helpful to bolster some of Marsden's key arguments. Case studies could have illustrated some of Marsden's key points about the difficulties in creating clear communication between divergent groups of people. If personal stories and anecdotes had been included, the Taliban would have come to life more; the book would have provided a more human face to an otherwise academic perspective. Nevertheless, the book's small size limits the extent to which Marsden can delve into specific case studies and the author works well within the scope of the material available on the Taliban. Moreover, although Marsden does not come out and say so directly, it is possible that case studies are unavailable.

Marsden's perspective on the Taliban is as compassionate as it is objective. In providing a clear and comprehensive history of the movement, he places the Taliban within a global and historical perspective. The author suggests, for instance, that the Taliban and other radical movements in political Islam arose not in isolation but in conjunction with seemingly unrelated world events. Marsden takes care to describe the influences of the United States and the Soviet Union on the recent history of Afghanistan and shows how the economy of that nation is also supported by the Taliban. Afghanistan is characterized by an economy that relies on smuggling, opium and heroin, and controversial oil and gas pipelines, all of which Marsden describes briefly in Chapter 11, "The Regional Picture."