Rich in rewarding detail and ... essential reading for anyone interested in the history of Afghanistan. - History Today [This book] has every indication of being the 21st century s standard English language history of Afghanistan...a parade of richly-realised personalities: sull colonial opportunists, visionaries, and the embattled present government figur are all presented here with a startlingly refreshing humanity? - The National Lee has blended an eye for detail with a sense of the broad sweep of Afghanista history... the book is studded with memorable vignettes that suggest the ubiqu and persistence of human frailty - Sydney Morning Herald Anyone seeking to understand a complex, even bewildering part of the world will benefit from Lee s careful account! - Kirkus Reviews Jonathan L. Lee s massive Afghanistan is an exhausting march through centuries of conflict and bloodshed... his account of Afghanistan s history is almost dizzying in its power shifts and conflicts. - Washington Independent Review of Books Afghanistan has been an important land for thousands of years. Its ancient trade routes and strategic position between India, Inner Asia, China, Persia and beyond has meant that the region has been subject to frequent invasions. As a result, modern Afghanistan is a culturally and ethnically diverse country, but one divided by conflict, political instability and mass displacements of its people. This new and expanded edition of Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present tells the story of how this small tribal confederacy became a modern nation state and offers new cultural and political insights from Persian histories, the memoirs of Afghan government officials, British government and India Office archives, recently released CIA reports and Wikileaks documents. Jonathan L. Lee also sheds new light on the country s foreign relations, its internal power struggles and the impact of foreign military interventions.