In late 1994, a new force unexpectedly emerged in the politics of war-ravaged Afghanistan – the Taliban. This was ostensibly a movement of religious students, inspired by a vision which its leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was said to have received in a dream, the Taliban first seized the southern Afghanistan city of Kandahar in 1994 and then in 1995 the ancient city of Herat. Finally, in September of 1996, the capital Kabul fell to the Taliban’s forces. There its demands for the seclusion of women under a strict Islamic regime immediately captured world attention. Much about the Taliban remains mysterious. Mullah Mohammad Omar has never been photographed, and the sect’s opponents have depicted it as the creature of Pakistani military intelligence, the ISL. The United States and Iran also have become entangled with the Taliban at various times. Fundamentalism Reborn? looks beyond the popular stereotypes to explore the roots of the Taliban movement, the factors which contributed to its sudden rise, and the implications of Taliban mobilization for the stability of Afghanistan and the entire surrounding region. The authors , all well known specialists in the area, are sensitive both to the complexity of Afghan society and to the fluidity of Afghan politics in the wake of fifteen years of upheaval and destruction. Together they provide a many-faceted account of one of the most extraordinary phenomena of the contemporary world.