Twenty-first century Pashtuns: continuity amid catastrophe -- From peaceful borderlands to incubators of extremism -- The Taliban in power -- War in Waziristan -- Vanishing tribes -- Terror in Pakhtunkhwa -- Simmering Balochistan: a Taliban haven -- Old and new Islamists in Loy Nangarhar -- Tribes, communists and generational jihadists in Loya Paktia -- The new Taliban in Loy Kandahar -- Crafting a peacful future.