The Pashtuns: A Contested History by Tilak Devasher

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The Pashtuns are likely the largest ethnic group in the world without their own nation. They live in a continuous area that stretches from the Hindu Kush mountains to the Indus River, spanning parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the 1980s, Pakistan used the Pashtun regions in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to launch attacks against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan and later during the War on Terror led by the United States.

During this time, FATA was left in a state of constitutional and informational neglect. This discontent came to a head in 2018 when the extra-judicial killing of a Pashtun young man sparked widespread protests.

Veteran analyst Tilak Devasher’s book addresses a gap in understanding the geopolitics of South Asia, especially following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the changing power dynamics in the area.