Amin Saikal provides a new approach to understanding a region which is now at the center of international attention. Pushed to the forefront of world politics by the Soviet invasion of 1979, followed by murderous civil war in the 1980s, and then the establishment of the Taliban regime that resulted in American intervention following the catastrophe of September 11th, Afghanistan's history is a sorry one. Saikal seeks to answer why Afghanistan's course of development has been so turbulent and why it remains so vulnerable to domestic instability, foreign intervention and ideological extremism. He argues that this was largely due to rivalries stemming from a series of dynastic alliances within the successive royal families from the end of the eighteenth century to the pro-Communist coup of April 1978. Afghanistan: Tribal Nation is an important book that serves the needs of growing numbers of people who seek to understand the history and political heritage of this troubled country.