India, Feb. 28 -- The Af-Pak region is back in the headlines after Pakistani armed forces' launched air attack within Afghanistan, including Kabul. The two countries had fought a limited war last year that ended after mediation by Qatar and Turkey. The current flare-up can reverse the limited gains under Taliban 2.0 and vitiate the atmosphere in India's neighbourhood. Anju Gupta's Glocal Terror in South Asia offers an insightful history of the last 46 years. It begins with Afghanistan becoming a Cold War arena in the 1970s and covers the Soviet invasion in 1979, the resistance by local militias and the rise of Pakistan-sponsored Taliban, the making of a global jihad by Al Qaeda, the US intervention, the defeat of the Taliban, the installation of a non-Taliban coalition, and finally, the return of Taliban 2.0. Gupta, a police officer with a distinguished record in security analysis, offers what is a South Asian view of the region and warns that Black Swan events could force the region to slide back to violence....