The Ultimate AfPak Reading List

What follows is the Ultimate AfPak Reading List -- an amalgamation of syllabi from classes I've taught at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. I've included a variety of reading, from books I've found particularly insightful on the topic to significant reporting on everything from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to al Qaeda's media strategy. Links are included whenever possible, but be forewarned that some of the journal articles are subscription only. And in some cases I've included my general comments about the work and specific page numbers. Categories are organized thusly:

• Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion, 1979-1989 & the Rise of the Taliban, 1994-2001
• Afghanistan: Under the Taliban 1994-2001 & the Rise of the Religious Warriors and Their Al Qaeda Allies
• Afghanistan: The Resurgence of the Taliban and al Qaeda from the Battle of Tora Bora in the Winter of 2001 to Today
• Pakistan: General Interest
• Pakistan: The Jihadists Post-9/11
• Al Qaeda: General Interest
• Al Qaeda: From Its Formation in 1988 to 9/11
• Al Qaeda: The Organization and the Ideological Movement Since the 9/11 Attacks
• Al Qaeda: Media Strategy from 1988 to the Present
• The Underlying Causes of the 9/11 Attacks
• Islamist Terrorism and Its Intellectual Influences

If you think there's something that should be on here and isn't, email us at Bergen@newamerica.net or Tiedemann@newamerica.net. This is very much a work in progress. Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion, 1979-1989 & the Rise of the Taliban, 1994-2001

• Bearden, Milton. "Graveyard of Empires, Afghanistan's Treacherous Peaks." In How Did This Happen? Terrorism and the New War. Ed. Gideon Rose and James F. Hoge Jr. (New York: Public Affairs, 2001).
• Bradsher, Henry. Afghan Communism and Soviet Intervention. (London: Oxford University Press, 1999).
• Crile, George. Charlie Wilson's War, The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History. (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003).
• Feifer, Gregory. The Great Gamble: the Soviet War in Afghanistan (New York: Harper Collins, 2009).
• Urban, Mark. War in Afghanistan. (London: Macmillan Press, 1988).
• Yousaf, Mohammad and Mark Adkin. Afghanistan -- The Bear: The Defeat of a Superpower. (London: Leo Cooper, 1992).

Afghanistan: Under the Taliban 1994-2001 & the Rise of the Religious Warriors and Their Al Qaeda Allies Books

• Dorronsoro, Gilles. Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to Present. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005). Dense, authoritative study.
• Gutman, Roy. How We Missed the Story: Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and the Hijacking of Afghanistan (Washington, DC: USIP Press, 2008).
• Maley, William, ed. Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban. (New York: New York University Press, 1998).
• Rashid, Ahmed. Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. (Paperback Edition)

Articles