Guardians of God: Inside the Religious Mind of the Pakistani Taliban. Sheikh, Mona Kanwal. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2016

Abstract

Guardians of God: Inside the Religious Mind of the Pakistani Taliban is the first comprehensive study of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as a movement and an ideology, evidently written by someone who has a very clear understanding of the complexity of the conflict between the TTP and state of Pakistan. The book focuses on conflict resolution in terms of jihadi movements, with a particular focus on the Pakistani Taliban. It is an astute account of the TTP since its inception in 2007. With a complex hierarchy, the author follows how the group has morphed into a fragmented one with different factions operating under it with diverging ideologies, which more often than enough has led to fragmentation of the group and emergence of new splinter groups.