CONTENTS: Foreword, Preface, Acknowledgements, 1. Routes and Roots: Unveiling the Layers of Afghan Nationalism-Saman Ayesha Kidwai, 2. Afghanistan’s Nationhood: Shaped by the Taliban-Shirish Waghmare, 3. Doctrine in the Mountains: Unravelling the Taliban’s Ideology Tapestry-Vaasu Sharma, 4. Nationhood in Afghanistan through the Lens of the Great Game and the Graveyard of Empires-Shekhar B. Ashtikar, 5. Afghanistan’s Nationhood from the Perspective of Ethnicity-Niranjan Marjani, 6. Understanding the Shifting Interplay between Tribes and Ethnic Groups in the Contemporary Political Dynamics of Afghanistan-Rushita Shetty, 7. Analysing Pashtun Nationalism in Afghanistan-Kshipra Vasudeo, 8. Impact of the Tajik Ethnicity Factor on Tajikistan’s Ties with Afghanistan-Aditi Bhaduri, 9. Fractured Nationhood: Taliban’s Exclusionary Practices and the Marginalisation of the Hazara Community in Post-2021 Afghanistan-Ziba Akbari, 10. Gender Violence in Afghanistan-Sanchita Bhattacharya, 11. Ethnic Conflict in Afghanistan: The Struggle for Inclusive Governance under the Taliban-Puspa Kumari, 12. Consultative Democracy: An Embryonic Model for Afghanistan’s Fragile and Fractured Geopolitical Matrix-Kondaraju Sandeep Royal, 13. The Taliban and Afghan Politics: An Introspective Study-Manas Chakrabarty, 14. Illusive Peace in Afghanistan: Ethnic Conflict and Possibilities of Peace-Ranjita Chakrabarty, Contributors, Index.