Soviet Expansion in the Third World: Afghanistan a Case Study

by Nasir Shansab

This penetrating study might more aptly have been titled Superpower Expansion in the Third World: Afghanistan, a Cautionary Tale. Its author, Nasir Shansab, an Afghan businessman and social critic, now lives in the United States, having been forced into exile in 1975. He offers, first, an account of Afghanistan's recent history, then sets that in the context of upheaval taking place from Iran to Nicaragua.

Shansab's thesis is simple if not elegant: "In order to survive, social order must make sense to the people. It must be perceived as just, and it must offer security. Social systems . . . that fail to offer hope for a better future simply will not be endured passively for long," he writes. "Time will inevitably and inexorably work toward violent change if negotiated reform does not take place."

190 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 14, 2013

About the author

Nasir Shansab was once Afghanistan’s leading industrialist before he was forced to leave the country in 1975. He has periodically returned to that country in the years since the U.S. invasion seeking better opportunities for the Afghan people.