Call number
958.104 GOP
Collection
Genres
Publication
Metropolitan Books (2014), Edition: 1, 320 pages
Description
"As U.S. troops prepare to withdraw, the shocking tale of how the American military had triumph in sight in Afghanistan--and then brought the Taliban back from the dead. In the popular imagination, Afghanistan is often regarded as the site of intractable conflict, the American war against the Taliban a perpetually hopeless quagmire. But as Anand Gopal demonstrates in this stunning chronicle, top Taliban leaders were in fact ready to surrender within months of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, renouncing all political activity and submitting to the new government. Effectively, the Taliban ceased to exist--yet the American forces were not ready to accept such a turnaround. Driven by false intelligence from corrupt warlords and by a misguided conviction that Taliban members could never change sides, the U.S. instead continued to press the conflict, resurrecting the insurgency that persists to this day. Gopal's dramatic narrative, full of vivid personal detail, follows three Afghans through years of U.S. missteps: a Taliban commander, a U.S.-backed warlord, and a housewife trapped in the middle of the fighting. With its intimate accounts of life in small Afghan villages, and harrowing tales of crimes committed by Taliban leaders and American-supported provincial officials alike, No Good Men Among the Living lays bare the workings of America's longest war and the truth behind its prolonged agony. A thoroughly original expose; of the conflict that is still being fought, it shows just how the American intervention went so desperately wrong"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member TimBazzett
For the last dozen years or more U.S. consumers of the news have been force fed the American version, or “our side” of what has been happening in Afghanistan since the first American troops landed there at the end of 2001. Now, with Anand Gopal’s book, NO GOOD MEN AMONG THE LIVING, we are
Gopal has obviously done his homework, researching these wars in depth, but more than that, he has spent hundreds of hours on the ground in Afghanistan just talking with the people there, including three in particular, a warlord, a Taliban commander, and a woman, Heela, widowed by the war and left to fend for herself and her children in a region where women have no rights or standing.
Perhaps the most shocking revelation comes early on in the book, when we learn that this whole war might not have happened at all if the U.S. had simply accepted Afghanistan’s offer to bring Osama bin Laden to justice themselves. But no, the U.S. demanded his extradition for a U.S. trial and there was no middle ground. And then, Gopal, tells us, the Taliban leaders all attempted to surrender within the first few months of the American invasion, but that didn’t work either, so most of them simply disappeared back into their home regions or decamped across the border into Pakistan. And so the U.S. forces were left without a visible enemy.
“How do you fight a war without an adversary? Enter Gul Agha Sherzai - and men like him around the country. Eager to survive and prosper, he and his commanders followed the logic of the American presence to its obvious conclusion. They would create enemies where there were none ... Sherzai’s enemies became America’s enemies, his battles its battles. His personal feuds and jealousies were repackaged as ‘counterterrorism,’ his business interests as Washington’s.”
And in the power vacuum that had formed after years of war, the feuds and jealousies between tribal leaders, warlords and would-be government leaders and politicians were not in short supply. George W. Bush might have offhandedly explained that we were ‘spreadin’ freedom, spreadin’ democracy’ in Afghanistan, but in fact we were the interlopers in an ancient and savage feudal society where revenge is a fact of life - a place where backstabbing, betrayals and sometimes outright bloody butchery had become common. Mullah Manan, a Taliban commander, gave Gopal this matter-of-fact, grisly account of a beheading, a reprisal against an Afghan who had collaborated with the U.S.-backed Karzai government -
“... and when he struggled, two of the men placed their weight on his arms and body and tied his hands behind his back. He began to scream, a deep madman’s scream, and the Talibs looked on and waited. One of them lowered a butcher’s knife onto Sidiqullah’s neck as if measuring , and began to cut. It surprised Manan how long it took, how much work it was, to decapitate a man. Afterward, when they tossed the head aside, it looked to him like a deflated balloon.”
The Mullah, in answer to Gopal’s question of how often this happened, “answered in his shy and quiet voice: ‘We were doing this two, maybe three times a month.’ ”
But perhaps just as shocking as this casual butchery on the Afghan side is the way U.S. forces were so easily duped into targeting, killing and arresting innocent Afghans fingered by their personal enemies as terrorists or Taliban. And even then our troops often arrested the wrong man. These prisoners were then remanded to remote Field Detention Sites, and from these to the prisons in Bagram or Kandahar, or even shipped off to Guantanamo. And in all of these places they were often starved, beaten and tortured. These accounts often came from prisoners who had been subsequently released, sometimes after months or even years of incarceration. Many of these wrongfully accused and imprisoned came back hating the Americans, ripe for recruitment in the newly revived Taliban movement. Gopal recorded too many horror stories of alleged innocents, sometimes whole families shot and killed in raids by U.S. forces, based on so-called ‘intelligence from reliable sources.’ U.S. officials would initially call the dead “mostly militants,” and then much later cautiously say things like “there was some potential that some of those killed were civilians.” And then compensation would be quietly paid - two thousand dollars to each of the victims’ families. One such grieving and angry family member told Gopal -
“When you go back to America, give Obama a message. You say you’ll give us roads and schools? I don’t give a sh** about your roads and schools! I want safety for my family.
I have no doubt that Gopal’s book will be controversial for many reasons, not the least of which will be the negative image painted of U.S. involvement there for the past twelve years. But the thought that kept bothering me most as I read these accounts was how could I trust the veracity of these stories offered by Afghans, many of whom have proved themselves to be masters of deceit and betrayal, often causing their fellow countrymen to suffer and even die. The one saving grace here in the Americans’ favor is the way they helped the war-widowed Heela to escape her hopeless circumstances, save her children, and build a new life. But otherwise, I am afraid that Gopal’s book will fall victim to an endless “they said, we said” vein of discussion. Do we believe the official U.S. version of how this war has been waged, or do we believe these many first-hand accounts from Afghans? While I believe that Gopal did everything he could to cross-check his stories, I still wonder. And I suspect I will not be the only one.
Yes, NO GOOD MEN AMONG THE LIVING will be controversial, but these are stories that needed to be told. Heartbreaking, disturbing stories. I applaud Gopal for gathering them and giving them a public forum in this well-written and compelling narrative. It is perhaps one of the most comprehensive look at the modern-day Afghan wars since Edward Girardet’s excellent KILLING THE CRANES. There is much to think about here. Highly recommended.
Show More
given a look at this long so-called ‘war against terror’ through Afghan eyes. Gopal, a respected American journalist who has also done stories from Egypt, Syria and other mid-East hot spots, made several trips into Afghanistan over the past five years, conducting numerous interviews with various warlords, tribal chieftains, Taliban leaders, and ordinary citizens, all in an attempt to understand - what? Well, I suppose trying to figure out what in the hell was going on in this country torn apart by wars for over thirty years now - ten years of occupation and war with the Soviet military, then a bloody civil war, followed by a harsh Taliban rule, and now, the American war against the Taliban and the elusive Al Quaeda.Gopal has obviously done his homework, researching these wars in depth, but more than that, he has spent hundreds of hours on the ground in Afghanistan just talking with the people there, including three in particular, a warlord, a Taliban commander, and a woman, Heela, widowed by the war and left to fend for herself and her children in a region where women have no rights or standing.
Perhaps the most shocking revelation comes early on in the book, when we learn that this whole war might not have happened at all if the U.S. had simply accepted Afghanistan’s offer to bring Osama bin Laden to justice themselves. But no, the U.S. demanded his extradition for a U.S. trial and there was no middle ground. And then, Gopal, tells us, the Taliban leaders all attempted to surrender within the first few months of the American invasion, but that didn’t work either, so most of them simply disappeared back into their home regions or decamped across the border into Pakistan. And so the U.S. forces were left without a visible enemy.
“How do you fight a war without an adversary? Enter Gul Agha Sherzai - and men like him around the country. Eager to survive and prosper, he and his commanders followed the logic of the American presence to its obvious conclusion. They would create enemies where there were none ... Sherzai’s enemies became America’s enemies, his battles its battles. His personal feuds and jealousies were repackaged as ‘counterterrorism,’ his business interests as Washington’s.”
And in the power vacuum that had formed after years of war, the feuds and jealousies between tribal leaders, warlords and would-be government leaders and politicians were not in short supply. George W. Bush might have offhandedly explained that we were ‘spreadin’ freedom, spreadin’ democracy’ in Afghanistan, but in fact we were the interlopers in an ancient and savage feudal society where revenge is a fact of life - a place where backstabbing, betrayals and sometimes outright bloody butchery had become common. Mullah Manan, a Taliban commander, gave Gopal this matter-of-fact, grisly account of a beheading, a reprisal against an Afghan who had collaborated with the U.S.-backed Karzai government -
“... and when he struggled, two of the men placed their weight on his arms and body and tied his hands behind his back. He began to scream, a deep madman’s scream, and the Talibs looked on and waited. One of them lowered a butcher’s knife onto Sidiqullah’s neck as if measuring , and began to cut. It surprised Manan how long it took, how much work it was, to decapitate a man. Afterward, when they tossed the head aside, it looked to him like a deflated balloon.”
The Mullah, in answer to Gopal’s question of how often this happened, “answered in his shy and quiet voice: ‘We were doing this two, maybe three times a month.’ ”
But perhaps just as shocking as this casual butchery on the Afghan side is the way U.S. forces were so easily duped into targeting, killing and arresting innocent Afghans fingered by their personal enemies as terrorists or Taliban. And even then our troops often arrested the wrong man. These prisoners were then remanded to remote Field Detention Sites, and from these to the prisons in Bagram or Kandahar, or even shipped off to Guantanamo. And in all of these places they were often starved, beaten and tortured. These accounts often came from prisoners who had been subsequently released, sometimes after months or even years of incarceration. Many of these wrongfully accused and imprisoned came back hating the Americans, ripe for recruitment in the newly revived Taliban movement. Gopal recorded too many horror stories of alleged innocents, sometimes whole families shot and killed in raids by U.S. forces, based on so-called ‘intelligence from reliable sources.’ U.S. officials would initially call the dead “mostly militants,” and then much later cautiously say things like “there was some potential that some of those killed were civilians.” And then compensation would be quietly paid - two thousand dollars to each of the victims’ families. One such grieving and angry family member told Gopal -
“When you go back to America, give Obama a message. You say you’ll give us roads and schools? I don’t give a sh** about your roads and schools! I want safety for my family.
I have no doubt that Gopal’s book will be controversial for many reasons, not the least of which will be the negative image painted of U.S. involvement there for the past twelve years. But the thought that kept bothering me most as I read these accounts was how could I trust the veracity of these stories offered by Afghans, many of whom have proved themselves to be masters of deceit and betrayal, often causing their fellow countrymen to suffer and even die. The one saving grace here in the Americans’ favor is the way they helped the war-widowed Heela to escape her hopeless circumstances, save her children, and build a new life. But otherwise, I am afraid that Gopal’s book will fall victim to an endless “they said, we said” vein of discussion. Do we believe the official U.S. version of how this war has been waged, or do we believe these many first-hand accounts from Afghans? While I believe that Gopal did everything he could to cross-check his stories, I still wonder. And I suspect I will not be the only one.
Yes, NO GOOD MEN AMONG THE LIVING will be controversial, but these are stories that needed to be told. Heartbreaking, disturbing stories. I applaud Gopal for gathering them and giving them a public forum in this well-written and compelling narrative. It is perhaps one of the most comprehensive look at the modern-day Afghan wars since Edward Girardet’s excellent KILLING THE CRANES. There is much to think about here. Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member WCHagen
This book does a great disservice to the American servicemen who serve and have served in Afghanistan. With, at best, references to his own writings and interviews with enemy combatants and without equivocation, Gopal claims that our military involvement in that country consists of a series of
Does the book contain anything of value? Yes. It does provide an Afghan viewpoint regarding our presence there and underscores both the corruption of their leadership and the naivety of our political approach. But that naivety and ineptness should not be attributed to our forces.
Gopal makes reference to his ‘project’ or ‘mission’ and throws out occasional words like ‘imperialism’ and ‘colonialism’. The book’s association with The American Empire Project raises questions regarding his objectivity. That project rails against what it terms an “imperialistic tendency” in American foreign policy. This is not the place to refute or support that assertion but to transfer ownership or vicarious responsibility for it to our servicemen is not warranted.
I am reluctant to label Gopal’s work as yellow journalism but it comes close.
Show More
atrocities. If half his claims are factual and can be attested to, it would make the crimes committed at Abu Ghraib, Iraq look like a walk in the park. Torture has never been and will never be a valid interrogation technique when the validity and reliability of intelligence is of paramount interest. That is common sense. I point specifically to Chapter 7 but numerous other references can be cited. One lesson derived from Abu Ghraib was that it is impossible to long maintain a conspiratorial silence about blatant misconduct—there are too many honorable potential witnesses prepared to testify. With the possible exception of Heela, one of Gopal’s sources, none of his interviewees possess honor.Does the book contain anything of value? Yes. It does provide an Afghan viewpoint regarding our presence there and underscores both the corruption of their leadership and the naivety of our political approach. But that naivety and ineptness should not be attributed to our forces.
Gopal makes reference to his ‘project’ or ‘mission’ and throws out occasional words like ‘imperialism’ and ‘colonialism’. The book’s association with The American Empire Project raises questions regarding his objectivity. That project rails against what it terms an “imperialistic tendency” in American foreign policy. This is not the place to refute or support that assertion but to transfer ownership or vicarious responsibility for it to our servicemen is not warranted.
I am reluctant to label Gopal’s work as yellow journalism but it comes close.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Oberon
No Good Men Among the Living by Anand Gopal looks at the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan through Afghan eyes. It is not a charitable assessment.
Gopal's book does an excellent job of humanizing the Afghans and the impact that decades of war have had on the people. While the book deals principally
By recounting this history, through the eyes of the people who lived it, Gopal explains why the present insurgency has been successful. In effect, the United States has unwittingly brought back the the civil war that followed the Soviet occupation. This is not a novel concept. People like Rory Stewart in his book Can Intervention Work? pointed out that the U.S. (and NATO) lacked the understanding of the culture and the language skills sufficient to combat an insurgency in Afghanistan. Gopal's book certainly bears out that criticism.
The book is replete with stories of U.S. forces descending on villages to arrest "Taliban and other insurgents" only to decimate a town's local power structure that was loyal to the Karzai government and was targeted simply by other Afghan tribes who were using the U.S.'s single-minded focus to find terrorists to settle tribal scores. This lack of understanding results in a radicalization of Afghans who had never been part of the Taliban or who had retired and returned to civilian life and prompts them to return to war against the Karzai government and the U.S.
Gopal's book is a depressing read but a necessary one for people who talk blithely about nation building and building local capacity. Which is not to say that nation building should not be attempted or that it is not worth the effort. Rather, that it must be done with a clearer understanding of the limits of our capacity and a great deal more humility. Gopal's book is very useful in regaining a measure of that humility.
Gopal's book does an excellent job of humanizing the Afghans and the impact that decades of war have had on the people. While the book deals principally
Show More
with the American invasion and its aftermath, through the stories of some of the Afghans that the book follows the reader gains a broader understanding of the collapse of Afghanistan in the late 70's, the destruction wrought by the Soviet invasion, the anarchy of the civil war that occurred after the Soviet withdrawal and how that history lead to the Taliban. Few countries, with the possible exception of Somalia, have suffered a worse fate in modern times.By recounting this history, through the eyes of the people who lived it, Gopal explains why the present insurgency has been successful. In effect, the United States has unwittingly brought back the the civil war that followed the Soviet occupation. This is not a novel concept. People like Rory Stewart in his book Can Intervention Work? pointed out that the U.S. (and NATO) lacked the understanding of the culture and the language skills sufficient to combat an insurgency in Afghanistan. Gopal's book certainly bears out that criticism.
The book is replete with stories of U.S. forces descending on villages to arrest "Taliban and other insurgents" only to decimate a town's local power structure that was loyal to the Karzai government and was targeted simply by other Afghan tribes who were using the U.S.'s single-minded focus to find terrorists to settle tribal scores. This lack of understanding results in a radicalization of Afghans who had never been part of the Taliban or who had retired and returned to civilian life and prompts them to return to war against the Karzai government and the U.S.
Gopal's book is a depressing read but a necessary one for people who talk blithely about nation building and building local capacity. Which is not to say that nation building should not be attempted or that it is not worth the effort. Rather, that it must be done with a clearer understanding of the limits of our capacity and a great deal more humility. Gopal's book is very useful in regaining a measure of that humility.
Show Less
LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
This is the other side of the story.
With determined objectivity, Gopal does just what he claims: he tells the story of the War on Terror and the last fourteen years--particularly 2001 through 20010--of war and distrust in Afghanistan, "through Afghan eyes". The focus is not on the military or on
This is a difficult book because it is so very believable and so very simple. It makes sense of the news stories and the world which Americans have seen portrayed in nonsensical inflammatory terms, and it makes understandable--to the extent that terrorism and death can be understood--the ways in which a small extremist force overtook an entire world through what amounts, sadly, to gossip and confusion gone mad. For men and women in America who want to understand the war that has been ongoing for more than a decade, this is required reading, not telling the whole story, but telling the parts of the story which are too often glossed over or ignored. It is difficult reading because the entire book--and the entire forces of Afghanistan and America, as a result--are essentially operating in a mist of gray where there is very rarely a good or a bad, or at least not one of either which can be easily apprehended. There is, more than anything, confusion, and an imperative to survive.
Gopal's work here is, very simply, disturbing and straight-forward. And it is two-sided. It should be required reading.
As a side-note, it's worth noting that his writing is superb, and his history-telling is absurdly clear considering the quagmire of a subject he's taken on. Whether you read this for the narrative, for the writing, for the history, for the politics, or for the telling of the other side, this is worth your time.
Absolutely recommended.
With determined objectivity, Gopal does just what he claims: he tells the story of the War on Terror and the last fourteen years--particularly 2001 through 20010--of war and distrust in Afghanistan, "through Afghan eyes". The focus is not on the military or on
Show More
the people in power, but on the men And women who are, very simply, attempting to survive in a climate of terror, poverty, and confusion. And Gopal begins on September 11, 2001, but in a fitting way for a book that is both troubling and all too believable: he begins in a town where everyone understands the Taliban as a failing force, and nobody knows of the attacks already occurring in America. He begins in a world where men and women are seeing their world beginning to make sense, where fighting has been ongoing since 1979 and is finally, seemingly, coming to an end, and where America is of no concern whatsoever.This is a difficult book because it is so very believable and so very simple. It makes sense of the news stories and the world which Americans have seen portrayed in nonsensical inflammatory terms, and it makes understandable--to the extent that terrorism and death can be understood--the ways in which a small extremist force overtook an entire world through what amounts, sadly, to gossip and confusion gone mad. For men and women in America who want to understand the war that has been ongoing for more than a decade, this is required reading, not telling the whole story, but telling the parts of the story which are too often glossed over or ignored. It is difficult reading because the entire book--and the entire forces of Afghanistan and America, as a result--are essentially operating in a mist of gray where there is very rarely a good or a bad, or at least not one of either which can be easily apprehended. There is, more than anything, confusion, and an imperative to survive.
Gopal's work here is, very simply, disturbing and straight-forward. And it is two-sided. It should be required reading.
As a side-note, it's worth noting that his writing is superb, and his history-telling is absurdly clear considering the quagmire of a subject he's taken on. Whether you read this for the narrative, for the writing, for the history, for the politics, or for the telling of the other side, this is worth your time.
Absolutely recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member doomjesse
A view inside a tiny world.
I read this book with all the arrogance of a political and history junkie. I knew all the theories of why Afghanistan had failed as expressed by the "experts". I knew the tribal structure, the different groups, the power players and their histories. What I didn't know was
I read this book with all the arrogance of a political and history junkie. I knew all the theories of why Afghanistan had failed as expressed by the "experts". I knew the tribal structure, the different groups, the power players and their histories. What I didn't know was
Show More
the tiny little world the Afghanis inhabited. It came as a shock to me to see how little the Afghanis knew or cared about the rest of the world. They had no understanding of us or we of them, and worse yet, we didn't care that we were stumbling in the dark, as long as we were stumbling in the "right" direction. Both sides seem to have used each other to try to reach individual goals To see the world we jointly destroyed with nothing to leave in its place was simply heart-rending. An eye opening book and definitely worth reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member Kaysee
I was curious about this book when I requested it. I wondered if it was an anti American involvement in Afghanistan or if was a story to try to keep American troops on the ground.
Instead I read a history of the conflict that has been going on in Afghanistan since the beginning of history.
The Afghan conflict is nothing new. It has been going on for centuries. The culture in Afghanistan is based on their tribes. There has always been tribal warfare. It is nothing new.
This book explains the culture of the Afghan people, and it helps to understand some of their beliefs, but to paint the Americans as barbaric and sometimes worse offenders of human rights over the Afghans seems a gross injustice. With all that has happened in Afghanistan before the American troops arrived, I find it hard that to tell the story of the Taliban being so willing to throw down arms and live peacefully.
Interesting book even if I can not belief it as non-fiction.
Instead I read a history of the conflict that has been going on in Afghanistan since the beginning of history.
Show More
Unfortunately, it also describes such atrocities blamed on American troops that I find hard to believe would not come to light. The Afghan conflict is nothing new. It has been going on for centuries. The culture in Afghanistan is based on their tribes. There has always been tribal warfare. It is nothing new.
This book explains the culture of the Afghan people, and it helps to understand some of their beliefs, but to paint the Americans as barbaric and sometimes worse offenders of human rights over the Afghans seems a gross injustice. With all that has happened in Afghanistan before the American troops arrived, I find it hard that to tell the story of the Taliban being so willing to throw down arms and live peacefully.
Interesting book even if I can not belief it as non-fiction.
Show Less
LibraryThing member aggie52
An interesting book, which covers what has happened in Afganistan in the past with emphasis on the most recent past. Although the US forces had initial success in beating the Taliban, they later lost all that appeared to have been gained. In the end, the US disregarded the former Taliban
Show More
willingness to give up their arms and work for a stable government. Rather, the US government refused to accept this and continued in their attempts to get rid of anyone believed to be Taliban or their associates. In the end, all the US and Allied effort has been wasted and nothing worthwhile has been gained. Show Less
LibraryThing member mldavis2
This is a sobering account by author Anand Gopal, a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, The Nation, The New Republic, Harper's and others, of the dysfunction and chaos in Afghanistan following Russian and American involvement in Afghan politics and their lack of
This was a First Reader copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Show More
understanding of the culture. It documents atrocities by American troops and gives a look at the corruption that springs from foreign involvement. Most revealing, it gives perspectives from three Afghan civilians caught up in the conflict. I don't know how accurate the accounts are - they seem to be well documented and the author lived there for 3 years gaining the confidence of those interviewed - but if there is any semblance of truth in what he writes, this should be required reading for all U.S. politicians, military and persons in positions of foreign policy trust. It is not an anti-administration or anti-political account as much as anti-military intelligence, and CIA; and foreign policy ignorance. How fitting following the current Afghan elections ...This was a First Reader copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Show Less
LibraryThing member froxgirl
Anand Gopal does a brilliant job of reportage but the only conclusion the reader can make is that nothing good ever happened in Afghanistan and it is unlikely that anything good ever will.
The book title is true, and there is no good life for anyone in Afghanistan. Especially under the Taliban,
No invaders have ever done anything right in this horrible country, where the only thing that grows is poppies for opium. The terrain is so hostile that groups of poor farmers devolve into warring tribes. The US helps the warlords to overthrow the Soviets, who never belonged in their country either. Then the warlords, who were poor farmers, kill civilians during their protracted, useless battles. Schools and stores are closed during each regime. No one gets an education. Women are never permitted to leave their homes. Corrupt officials suck up to whomever's in power at the time and switch sides whenever the winds blows. And then the Taliban comes into power. And then the US backs Karzai, who can also rot in hell with his misbegotten wealth stolen from misguided relief efforts.
Honestly? I believe this entire country should be abandoned and set up as a no-man's land. Perhaps the various tribes could resettle in the surrounding countries like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Iran. The constant warfare, miserable daily lives of most of the citizenry, the overwhelming corruption, the invading armies who know nothing of the back history (or they'd stay far, far away)- the all of it make for as close to hell as can be imagined on this planet.
The book title is true, and there is no good life for anyone in Afghanistan. Especially under the Taliban,
Show More
warlords, and US boots on the ground. This recent history follows 3 Afghanis: a Taliban commander, a warlord backed by the US, and a housewife who becomes a member of the government after her husband is brutally murdered by the warlord's uncle.No invaders have ever done anything right in this horrible country, where the only thing that grows is poppies for opium. The terrain is so hostile that groups of poor farmers devolve into warring tribes. The US helps the warlords to overthrow the Soviets, who never belonged in their country either. Then the warlords, who were poor farmers, kill civilians during their protracted, useless battles. Schools and stores are closed during each regime. No one gets an education. Women are never permitted to leave their homes. Corrupt officials suck up to whomever's in power at the time and switch sides whenever the winds blows. And then the Taliban comes into power. And then the US backs Karzai, who can also rot in hell with his misbegotten wealth stolen from misguided relief efforts.
Honestly? I believe this entire country should be abandoned and set up as a no-man's land. Perhaps the various tribes could resettle in the surrounding countries like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Iran. The constant warfare, miserable daily lives of most of the citizenry, the overwhelming corruption, the invading armies who know nothing of the back history (or they'd stay far, far away)- the all of it make for as close to hell as can be imagined on this planet.
Show Less
LibraryThing member muddyboy
A wonderful book about the war in Afghanistan told through the voices of the Afghan people themselves. Mr. Gopal gets to the heart of the Russian and American miscalculations in the country . The constant theme is the poring of money in to the wrong people in the country and this changes people who
Show More
were initially sympathetic to America to shift to the other side. One really interesting story is about a woman named Heela who navigates very dangerous waters to become a political force. A must read for anyone who truly wants to know what went on in the war against the Taliban. Show Less
LibraryThing member Sullywriter
An excellent account of the war against the Taliban from the perspectives of Afghans who have had to live it. Insightful and compellingly written.
LibraryThing member michelle.mount
The whole time I'm reading it I'm thinking - this has to have won a Pulitzer Prize! Turns out it was a finalist. The journalism leading up to the Afghan war is great until it gets to the actually war. Then the parties, the stories and the sides become so entangled it's hard to make heads or tails
Reading about the war from the soldiers' point of view is like looking through a pin whole. This book pulls together 3 very different Afghan perspectives for a fuller (still incomplete) picture of what happened. Spoiler alert * in the end everyone is confused.
Show More
of whose who. This book accomplishes that with out leading in too many directions. I don't think this story could ever be told again, or be told better by anyone else. Reading about the war from the soldiers' point of view is like looking through a pin whole. This book pulls together 3 very different Afghan perspectives for a fuller (still incomplete) picture of what happened. Spoiler alert * in the end everyone is confused.
Show Less
LibraryThing member larryerick
There are a few things I expect from an especially good non-fiction work: (1) learning something of value I didn't already know, (2) having information I may already know presented in a way that adds great clarity, cohesiveness, and memorability, and (3) moves me emotionally on what might otherwise
Show More
be rather sterile facts. While I have already read some good books on Afghanistan and the war that America keeps fighting, this book very successfully meets all my criteria for outstanding work. Personally, I doubt that most Americans have a good understanding of why Afghanistan is so important in world relations, other than it being the location where people of differing religious beliefs to most Americans harbored a group of people who did harm to America. Few probably know of the pivotal role the country has played in regional politics for centuries. Few probably know of the details of the Russian occupation and the state Afghanistan was left in after the Russians left. And while many Americans will know of a connection between Afghanistan and the "war on terror", very few will know to what extent the American operations in the country have only served to amplify the very terrorism they are trying to remove. In fact, I challenge any Westerner to read this book and maintain the same response to the very recent terrorism in Europe. For my fiction-lover friends, I must also point out that I found it easy to relate major portions of this book -- this "real" story -- to the fictional narrative in Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. And I can say without hesitation that this book was every bit as dramatic and even more suspenseful. Highly recommended. Show Less
Awards
National Book Award (Finalist — Nonfiction — 2014)
Pulitzer Prize (Finalist — General Non-Fiction — 2015)
Ridenhour Book Prize (2015)
Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism (Finalist — 2015)
Pages
320
ISBN
0805091793 / 9780805091793
Similar in this library
The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States by National Commission on Terrorist Attacks
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer
Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson