A Journey through Afghanistan by David Chaffetz

by David Chaffetz

Shortly before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, David Chaffetz and a fellow American student immersed themselves in the customs, fears, and hopes of the Afghan people, setting out on horseback through the mountains and into a lonely, hermetic world of nomads and isolated villages. This vivid, honest, and often poignant account is now available again with a new foreword, written in the fall of 2001, by Chaffetz's travel companion, Willard Wood.

Paperback

First published October 1, 1984

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the late seventies, David Chaffetz travelled through a country that no longer exists: Afghanistan. Not that there is not a country by that name, but the Afghanistan that Chaffetz visited, riding a horse between dusty towns and their teahouses, entertained by the local landowners, drinking tea and conversing with shrine-keepers, impoverished teachers, and military men, has in the meantime been savaged by more than three decades of war, and a recovery that has been uneven at best. In his telling, this poverty-stricken territory was almost unfailingly hospitable, if occasionally suspicious, of this foreigner, even when he insisted on riding into a blizzard or insulted his hosts unwittingly by following Western customs and discourse instead of Afghan ones. But the Afghans were courteous, peaceful, whether showing the visitors around a nearly-forgotten shrine, feeding them and their horses, riding for days to make sure they reach the next outpost in an unforgiving countryside. (Unforgiving perhaps underestimates the case: this is brutal terrain, cold, dusty plains broken by mountains.) There is not even a hint that the Afghans were on the verge of tearing each other to pieces. Granted, Chaffetz travelled through and around the city of Herat, influenced by Iran (at that time still ruled by the Shah), and proud of the mosque built by Queen Gawharshad. Chaffetz’ reportage does not spare his own occasional lack of grace. He chronicles being cheated when purchasing clothes or a horse, and recounts how his Afghan companion occasionally chides him for rudeness. Chaffetz captures how different Afghan discourse is from the West’s, much more concerned with the preservation of relationships, mildly curious about Chaffetz’ home. At the end of the book, Chaffetz recounts a conversation he had with an Afghan who called him. They talked of this and that; Chaffetz offered an invitation that he no doubt knew would be declined, as it was. At the end, the Afghan explained why he had called. “I don’t want anything. Just to talk. I will call you again, so we can talk and remind one another how Afghanistan used to be when you travelled here.” That declaration is sad enough, but the even greater sorrow – the publication date of my edition is 1984, while the mujahedeen were still fighting against the Russians, before they were successful and then turned their guns on each other, only to lose most of the country to the Taliban – is just how much farther Afghanistan had yet to go, how much more its people had yet to endure.

[Yasmeen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get all the way through it without being disturbed by the condescending tone. While some observations are spot on, others are imperialistic and judgmental. If I were reading this for scholarly purposes I would have finished, but not a great leisure read.

[Caveman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate David's effords for focusing on small details.

[Emerson Grossmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was written before 9/11. One of my favourite books on Afghanistan. Chaffetz's book "A Journey through Afghanistan: A Memorial" is the last in my trilogy of readings on Afghanistan for this year. First, I read about Nic Danzinger's travels through the area in recent years. Next, I jumped back to the 1950's and 1960's with Sir Wilfred Thesiger's--"Among the Mountains". I finished with Chaffetz's "A Journey Through Afghanistan". They are all brilliant, but Chaffetz's book stands out as a scholarly piece and could well be used in anthropological circles for it's in depth study of the urban and nomadic Afghanis prior and during the Russian invasion. The recent drought (1999) that has affected the Hazarajat and Kuchi nomads of Afghanistan was brought that much closer with this book. I had bought this book in the mid-1980's, but between different trips to the Near East--I had forgotten where I left it. As a result, it took me 10 years to actually get around to reading it and after finishing it, I wondered why I hadn't cracked the spline earlier. Chaffetz' style can be a bit off-putting, but his travelling companion is a perfect foil to David's abrasive personality. I would really like to know why Chaffetz was studying Parsi in pre-revolutionary Iran or was that just a cover? Excellent book and great insights into Afghanistan and just when the pro-communist government was getting into place. Unfortunately, at the time of this review, the book had gone out of print.
UPDATE: the editor at Chicago UnivPress contacted me and because of my book review in Amazon, and the reader response, they re-published the book in 2001--she sent me the new edition.