Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-216) and index.

Ch.1 Who are the Taliban? : The Taliban are a Pashtun nationalist movement / Michael J. Totten -- The Taliban are part of global Jihadism and allied with al Qaeda / Scott Baldauf, Owais Tohid -- The Taliban cannot be categorized easily as any one movement / Anand Gopal -- The Taliban are funded by money from narcotics / Hayder Mili -- All of Afghanistan, not just the Taliban, relies on money from narcotics / Ted Galen Carpenter.

Ch.2 How should the United States deal with the Taliban? : The Taliban threaten vital U.S. interests / Barack Obama -- The Taliban are not a threat to the United States / John Mueller -- The Taliban are winning the war in Afghanistan / Kimberly Kagan -- The United States is well positioned to win the war in Afghanistan / Peter Bergen -- America must negotiate with the Taliban / Andrew Blandford -- America should not negotiate with the Taliban / Inge Fryklund.

Ch.3 What is the Taliban's relationship with Pakistan? : Pakistan opposes the Taliban / Husain Haqqani -- Pakistan aids the Taliban / Selig S. Harrison -- Pakistan has capitulated to the Taliban / Susanne Koelbl -- Pakistan seeks role as mediator in possible Taliban-Afghanistan peace talks / Pamela Constable -- Pakistan has done a poor job negotiating with the Taliban / Sharad Joshi -- The U.S. war may allow the Taliban to seize control of Pakistan / Pratap Chatterjee -- Military cooperation between the United States and Pakistan can help defeat the Taliban / Eli Clifton, Charles Fromm -- Pakistani civilian authorities, not the military, must address the Taliban crisis / Shuja Nawaz.

Ch.4 What is the Taliban's relationship with other nations? : Iran opposes the Taliban / Strategic Forecasting, Inc. (STRATFOR) -- The Taliban may be obtaining Chinese weapons from Iran / Ron Synovitz -- Russia and China are working to contain the Taliban / Dmitry Shlapentokh -- Money from individuals in Russia and Saudi Arabia helps support the Taliban / Ryan Mauro -- Saudi Arabia tacitly supports the Taliban / Rachel Ehrenfeld -- Saudi Arabia could act as an arbiter with the Taliban / Michael Shank.

Several articles discuss issues surrounding the Afghanistan war.

This volume explores the topic of the Taliban by presenting varied expert opinions that examine many of the different aspects that surround this issue. The viewpoints are selected from a wide range of highly respected and often hard-to-find sources and publications. Allows the reader to attain the higher-level critical thinking and reading skills that are essential in a culture of diverse and contradictory opinions.