Introduction : interpreting the Taliban / William Maley -- The Rabbani government, 1992-1996 / Amin Saikal -- How the Taliban became a military force / Anthony Davis -- Pakistan and the Taliban / Ahmed Rashid -- The United States and the Taliban / Richard Mackenzie -- Russia, Central Asia and the Taliban / Anthony Hyman -- Saudi Arabia, Iran and the conflict in Afghanistan / Anwar-ul-haq Ahady -- Dilemmas of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan / Michael Keating -- Afghan women under the Taliban / Nancy Hatch Dupree -- Is Afghanistan on the brink of ethnic and tribal disintegration? / Bernt Glatzer -- The UN in Afghanistan: 'doing its best' or 'failure of a mission'? / William Maley -- Has Islamism a future in Afghanistan? / Olivier Roy -- The future of the state and the structure of community governance in Afghanistan / M. Nazif Shahrani.