Part of the series, Routledge Research on Decoloniality and New Postcolonialisms, my monograph reorients the study of Afghanistan’s modern history by foregrounding the entanglements of coloniality and modernity as they are experienced, negotiated, and resisted by Afghan subaltern political actors. Moving beyond dominant elitist historiographies in colonial and nationalist archives, the book foregrounds indigenous epistemologies, particularly those rooted in traditional Islam and native literature, to offer an embodied, decolonial account of Afghanistan’s political life.

Guest co-edited with Susanne Schmeidl, our special issue brings together a set of critical interventions that revisit Afghanistan’s recent past and present through fresh analytical and methodological lenses. Moving beyond dominant state-centric and externally imposed narratives, the contributions foreground Afghan perspectives, lived experiences, and contested political subjectivities, while interrogating the global discourses that have shaped understandings of conflict, intervention, and peacebuilding. Collectively, the issue challenges simplified binaries and linear accounts of war and transition, offering instead a more nuanced, historically grounded, and reflexive engagement with Afghanistan’s complex social and political landscape. (Link)

• Abid, M., Gatwiri, K., & Krupka, Z. (2025). Maintaining Standards or Gatekeeping the Academy? Reflections of Peer Review Experiences by Racially and Culturally Minoritized Scholars in Australia, Sociology Compass, e70079. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.70079

• Abid, M. (2025). Unlocking the Taliban Puzzle: Traditions and Fundamentalisms, in D. Mukhopadhyay et al. (Eds.), Power and Authority in Afghanistan. Bloomsbury.

• Abid, M. & Schmeidl, S. (Eds.) (2023). Special Issue on the Protracted Crisis in Afghanistan: Decolonial Perspectives, Journal of Conflict Transformation and Security, 10(1).

• Gatwiri, K., Udah, H., & Abid, M. (2023). Choosing Marginality, in Ravulo et al. (Eds.), Handbook of Critical Whiteness. Springer.

• Abid, M. (2023). Interview with Hamid Parafshan and Omer Sabore, Journal of Conflict Transformation and Security, 10(1), 69–74.

• Abid, M. et al. (2021). Islamophobia Index: Content Analysis Challenges, Islamophobia Studies Journal, 6(2), 182–206.

• Abid, M. (2017). War, Media and Journalism in Afghan Jihad, Peace Review, 29(4), 450–457.

• Abid, M. (2017). Ideological Identities in Afghanistan, Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, 16(1-3), 180–192.

• Abid, M. (2016). Legitimacy in Afghanistan: A Critical Analysis of Historical and Contemporary Sources of Authority, International Relations, 4(7), 441–446.

Public Commentary & Online Contributions 

• Abid, M. (2026). Diasporic Peacebuilding: An Afghan Perspective from Australia. Available at: (link)

• Abid, M., Samad, O. & Wardak, W. (2025). Revitalizing UNAMA: Practical Steps for an Afghan Mission. Available at: (link)

• Abid, M. (2025). Sufism in Exile as Border Thinking (Part One). Available at: (link) 

• Abid, M. (2025). Afghan Exilic Writing Between Worlds (Part Two). Available at: (link)

• Abid, M. & Samad, O. (2025). A MOSAIC Approach to Afghanistan: Controversy and Opportunity. Available at: (link)

• Abid, M. & Miletic, T. (2024). The Shrine of Remembrance Turns 90, Australian Outlook, 13 Nov.

• Abid, M. (2021). Returning to the Afghan Way of War, AfghanEye, 10 Aug.