What do you think?
Rate this book
Farewell Kabul: From Afghanistan to a More Dangerous World
From the award-winning co-author of ‘I Am Malala’, this book asks just how the might of NATO, with 48 countries and 140,000 troops on the ground, failed to defeat a group of religious students and farmers? How did it go so wrong?
Twenty-seven years ago, Christina Lamb left Britain to become a journalist in Pakistan. She crossed the Hindu Kush into Afghanistan with mujaheddin fighting the Russians and fell unequivocally in love with this fierce country of pomegranates and war, a relationship which has dominated her adult life.
Since 2001, Lamb has watched with incredulity as the West fought a war with its hands tied, committed too little too late, failed to understand local dynamics and turned a blind eye as their Taliban enemy was helped by their ally Pakistan.
Farewell Kabul tells how success was turned into defeat in the longest war fought by the United States in its history and by Britain since the Hundred Years War. It has been a fiasco which has left Afghanistan still one of the poorest nations on earth, the Taliban undefeated, and nuclear armed Pakistan perhaps the most dangerous place on earth.
With unparalleled access to all key decision-makers in Afghanistan, Pakistan, London and Washington, from heads of state and generals as well as soldiers on the ground, Farewell Kabul tells how this happened.
In Afghanistan, Lamb has travelled far beyond Helmand – from the caves of Tora Bora in the south to the mountainous bad lands of Kunar in the east; from Herat, city of poets and minarets in the west, to the very poorest province of Samangan in the north. She went to Guantánamo, met Taliban in Quetta, visited jihadi camps in Pakistan and saw bin Laden’s house just after he was killed. Saddest of all, she met women who had been made role models by the West and had then been shot, raped or forced to flee the country.
This deeply personal book not only shows the human cost of political failure but explains how short-sighted encouragement of jihadis to fight the Russians, followed by prosecution of ill-thought-out wars, has resulted in the spread of terrorism throughout the Islamic world.
Twenty-seven years ago, Christina Lamb left Britain to become a journalist in Pakistan. She crossed the Hindu Kush into Afghanistan with mujaheddin fighting the Russians and fell unequivocally in love with this fierce country of pomegranates and war, a relationship which has dominated her adult life.
Since 2001, Lamb has watched with incredulity as the West fought a war with its hands tied, committed too little too late, failed to understand local dynamics and turned a blind eye as their Taliban enemy was helped by their ally Pakistan.
Farewell Kabul tells how success was turned into defeat in the longest war fought by the United States in its history and by Britain since the Hundred Years War. It has been a fiasco which has left Afghanistan still one of the poorest nations on earth, the Taliban undefeated, and nuclear armed Pakistan perhaps the most dangerous place on earth.
With unparalleled access to all key decision-makers in Afghanistan, Pakistan, London and Washington, from heads of state and generals as well as soldiers on the ground, Farewell Kabul tells how this happened.
In Afghanistan, Lamb has travelled far beyond Helmand – from the caves of Tora Bora in the south to the mountainous bad lands of Kunar in the east; from Herat, city of poets and minarets in the west, to the very poorest province of Samangan in the north. She went to Guantánamo, met Taliban in Quetta, visited jihadi camps in Pakistan and saw bin Laden’s house just after he was killed. Saddest of all, she met women who had been made role models by the West and had then been shot, raped or forced to flee the country.
This deeply personal book not only shows the human cost of political failure but explains how short-sighted encouragement of jihadis to fight the Russians, followed by prosecution of ill-thought-out wars, has resulted in the spread of terrorism throughout the Islamic world.
640 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2010
146 people are currently reading
1844 people want to read
About the author
Christina Lamb
24 books354 followersChristina Lamb OBE is one of Britain's leading foreign correspondents. She has been named Foreign Correspondent of the Year five times in the British Press Awards and What the Papers Say Awards and in 2007 was winner of the Prix Bayeux Calvados - one of the world's most prestigious prizes for war correspondents, for her reporting from Afghanistan.
She has won numerous other awards starting with Young Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards for her coverage of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1988; was part of the News Reporter of the year for BCCI; and won the Foreign Press Association award for reporting on Zimbabwean teachers forced into prostitution, and Amnesty International award for the plight of street children in Rio.
She was named by Grazia magazine as one of their Icons of the Decade and by She magazine as one of Britain's Most Inspirational Women. The ASHA foundation chose her as one of their inspirational women worldwide www.asha-foundation.org with her portrait featuring in a special exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery. Her portrait has also been in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. She was awarded the OBE in the 2013.
She has won numerous other awards starting with Young Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards for her coverage of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1988; was part of the News Reporter of the year for BCCI; and won the Foreign Press Association award for reporting on Zimbabwean teachers forced into prostitution, and Amnesty International award for the plight of street children in Rio.
She was named by Grazia magazine as one of their Icons of the Decade and by She magazine as one of Britain's Most Inspirational Women. The ASHA foundation chose her as one of their inspirational women worldwide www.asha-foundation.org with her portrait featuring in a special exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery. Her portrait has also been in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. She was awarded the OBE in the 2013.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
December 29, 2016
This is a book of tremendous strength and impact. The author spent many years in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The writing is upfront and personal; she has met a wide variety of people who experienced the anguish of both countries.
One clearly sees why Afghanistan is near the bottom of surveys for corruption, education, women’s rights – in fact any basic human rights. We are given an on the ground history of both countries from roughly the time of 9/11 to the killing of Osama Bin Laden in May 2011.
As described in The Wars of Afghanistan: Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the Failures of Great Powers by Peter Tomsen the country is a “shatter zone”. The U.S., Great Britain, and many other Western countries have been unable to lift Afghanistan out of its tribal quagmire. They have become war weary and dejected. Afghanistan is possibly better off now than in the year 2000, with more schools and roads – but the infra-structure of administrative ability as aptly described by Christina Lamb is sadly lacking. The Taliban are ever-present, warlords control roads, there is extensive heroin cultivation, and the threat of violence is everywhere. It is a heavily armed country where the possession of weapons, like AK-47s is common. There is no electricity, sewage, drinking water... As the author points out it is fine to have elections – but in a society that is existing in many ways like 500 years ago – there should be other priorities.
And Afghanistan has always to deal with its neighbor Pakistan – which shows the patience other foreign countries lack. As correctly described by the author all countries since the invasion by the Soviet Union have been dealing with the multiple games played by the government of Pakistan, their army and particularly their I.S.I. (secret services).
Page 403 Brigadier General Mick Nicholson of the U.S.
Because they [the Pakistani military] can attend our schools, speak English and talk to us in the same idiom we assume a common mindset, but of course there’s not. We learned the hard way. There are so many dimensions to this. We Westerners tend to look at things in isolation, and thought we were clever because we were playing three-dimensional chess. The Pakistanis were playing ten-dimensional chess, and we were not even showing up or aware of the chessboards they were playing in.
The West never realized until much later in “The Great Game” that Pakistan viewed Afghanistan as its own proxy state to be controlled and ruled. Just as it had no intention of letting the Soviet Union on its border, it has no intention of having Western influences in Afghanistan. Its own ISI has now been contaminated by jihadists. In fact, as the author clarifies, Pakistan was radically Islamized by General Zia-ul-Haq beginning in the late 1970’s. She describes, over the years, the frightening growth of madrassas in Pakistan where young boys are memorizing the Quran and being indoctrinated in jihad. These are a solid recruitment ground for the Taliban who are established in the Frontier provinces of Pakistan near the Afghan border.
This is a poignant journalistic work on the recent history of these countries and of the West’s involvement. It is a must read for those interested in these countries and provides many insights of this very troubled area of the world.
Page 417 – excerpt of a poem by an Afghan women who was murdered by her husband
My wings are closed and I cannot fly.
I am an Afghan woman and so must wail.
Page 410 from Masood Khalili
Never ever allow the candle of hope to slip from your palm and heart. As long as you have hope you win the world.
One clearly sees why Afghanistan is near the bottom of surveys for corruption, education, women’s rights – in fact any basic human rights. We are given an on the ground history of both countries from roughly the time of 9/11 to the killing of Osama Bin Laden in May 2011.
As described in The Wars of Afghanistan: Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the Failures of Great Powers by Peter Tomsen the country is a “shatter zone”. The U.S., Great Britain, and many other Western countries have been unable to lift Afghanistan out of its tribal quagmire. They have become war weary and dejected. Afghanistan is possibly better off now than in the year 2000, with more schools and roads – but the infra-structure of administrative ability as aptly described by Christina Lamb is sadly lacking. The Taliban are ever-present, warlords control roads, there is extensive heroin cultivation, and the threat of violence is everywhere. It is a heavily armed country where the possession of weapons, like AK-47s is common. There is no electricity, sewage, drinking water... As the author points out it is fine to have elections – but in a society that is existing in many ways like 500 years ago – there should be other priorities.
And Afghanistan has always to deal with its neighbor Pakistan – which shows the patience other foreign countries lack. As correctly described by the author all countries since the invasion by the Soviet Union have been dealing with the multiple games played by the government of Pakistan, their army and particularly their I.S.I. (secret services).
Page 403 Brigadier General Mick Nicholson of the U.S.
Because they [the Pakistani military] can attend our schools, speak English and talk to us in the same idiom we assume a common mindset, but of course there’s not. We learned the hard way. There are so many dimensions to this. We Westerners tend to look at things in isolation, and thought we were clever because we were playing three-dimensional chess. The Pakistanis were playing ten-dimensional chess, and we were not even showing up or aware of the chessboards they were playing in.
The West never realized until much later in “The Great Game” that Pakistan viewed Afghanistan as its own proxy state to be controlled and ruled. Just as it had no intention of letting the Soviet Union on its border, it has no intention of having Western influences in Afghanistan. Its own ISI has now been contaminated by jihadists. In fact, as the author clarifies, Pakistan was radically Islamized by General Zia-ul-Haq beginning in the late 1970’s. She describes, over the years, the frightening growth of madrassas in Pakistan where young boys are memorizing the Quran and being indoctrinated in jihad. These are a solid recruitment ground for the Taliban who are established in the Frontier provinces of Pakistan near the Afghan border.
This is a poignant journalistic work on the recent history of these countries and of the West’s involvement. It is a must read for those interested in these countries and provides many insights of this very troubled area of the world.
Page 417 – excerpt of a poem by an Afghan women who was murdered by her husband
My wings are closed and I cannot fly.
I am an Afghan woman and so must wail.
Page 410 from Masood Khalili
Never ever allow the candle of hope to slip from your palm and heart. As long as you have hope you win the world.
July 4, 2016
This is THE book to read to learn about the war in Afghanistan. British journalist Christina Lamb reported there starting in the 1980s when the United States supported the mujaheddin fighting the Soviet invasion. At that time her best Afghan friend was Hamid Karzai. She came back and reported on it throughout the 21st century war. I doubt that any foreigner knows Afghanistan better.
She knows all the players, both in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. She was friends with the late Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and was with her in the bus that was bombed when Bhutto returned to Pakistan from exile. Lamb shows how Pakistan's secret service provided material support to the Taliban all along.
She tells how Karzai was chosen as Afghanistan's president even though he might not have been the best man for the job. The West chose him but gave him little support to build a civil service. We gave more money to the warlords who ran the provinces.
Lamb tells how although the Taliban's laws are gone, women actually have not much more freedom than they did under the Taliban.
This book totally absorbed me.
She knows all the players, both in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. She was friends with the late Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and was with her in the bus that was bombed when Bhutto returned to Pakistan from exile. Lamb shows how Pakistan's secret service provided material support to the Taliban all along.
She tells how Karzai was chosen as Afghanistan's president even though he might not have been the best man for the job. The West chose him but gave him little support to build a civil service. We gave more money to the warlords who ran the provinces.
Lamb tells how although the Taliban's laws are gone, women actually have not much more freedom than they did under the Taliban.
This book totally absorbed me.
April 20, 2017
Christina Lamb begins her heartfelt memoir of 27 years of reporting from Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Washington in FAREWELL KABUL: FROM AFGHANISTAN TO A MORE DANGEROUS WORLD by describing the British withdrawal ceremony in Helmand province, Afghanistan that for her symbolized the transfer of power to the Afghan army. It might have been a happy occasion, but for Lamb it reminded her of the numerous errors in British policy in the region, the 453 British soldiers who were killed, the hundreds who had lost limbs to roadside bombs, and those psychologically scarred for life. Lamb also points to the tens of thousands of Afghans who had lost relatives, homes, and who had become refugees. By October, 2014 England was ending its 4th war in Afghanistan dating back to the 19th century, but this was their longest and leadership was determined to remove all evidence that they were ever there. What remained was a war that continues today, and it seems as if it has come full circle as there are current reports that the Russian government is supplying weapons to the Taliban, an organization who as mujahedeen had defeated the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Lamb presents an excellent history of a period of Anglo-American foreign policy that is wrought with mistakes, ignorance, and doing too little too late. In so doing, Lamb discusses an exceptional amount of information and analysis interspersed with her personal observations of her tenure in southwest Asia. She follows the story from the Soviet invasion of 1979, their ultimate defeat, the failure of the United States to maintain interest in the area, the rise of the Taliban, the American invasion, the tragedy of Iraq, the resurgence of the Taliban, the Mumbai attack, the killing of Bin-Laden, and the final withdrawal of American and NATO troops by 2014. What is amazing is that Lamb seems to be everywhere that major events are transpiring. Further, her “army” of contacts and sources make her writing indispensable to understand the history of the region.
One of her most telling comments among many throughout her narrative is that the United States had spent more money in Afghanistan than it had on the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Europe after World War II. Lamb watched events in Afghanistan for over 13 years and wondered how a war could be fought when there was no real border with Pakistan, which provided the enemy with safe haven. Further, she was incredulous when the United States fought a war on the “cheap,” committing few troops and soon becoming distracted by a new war in Iraq of its own making based on false information. In addition, the US turned a blind eye to its “supposed” ally, Pakistan whose intelligence service, the ISI had created the Taliban and provided an escape route for Osama Bin-Laden when American Special Forces had him cornered in Tora Bora in December, 2001. The entire operation and decision making can be summed up in one term, and I apologize if it insults some – a “cluster-fuck.” Much of Lamb’s analysis reminds me of Francis Fitzgerald’s FIRE IN THE LAKE, as the United States seemed purposefully ignorant of the culture that they were up against and did little to rectify it until it was too late.
Throughout her memoir Lamb describes the beautiful landscapes that she experienced, be it the Hindu Kush or the flowers and beautiful kites of Kabul. Despite all the tragedies that she witnessed she always seems to return to the joys that mother-nature afforded. It seems to me the major tragedy was how the Bush administration brushed off all warnings concerning a possible al-Qaeda attack from CIA Director George Tenet, Richard Clarke, Clinton’s terror advisor, members of the Northern Alliance, and even from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bush advisors saw this as sour grapes since the Russians had been defeated in Afghanistan by Bin-Laden and Company and the result was 9/11.
Lamb describes numerous characters who are germane to her story. The first, is indicative of the myriad of types she ran across. Wais Faizi, who managed the Mustafa Hotel and had lived in the United States, was known as “the Fonz of Kabul,” and drove around in a 1968 Chevy Camaro convertible. More significant was her relationship with Hamid Karzai who at the outset warned that the ISI was funneling American aid money to the Taliban. Lamb follows Karzai’s political career and his tenuous relationship with the United States and Pakistan throughout his presidency. James Dobbins, the United States Special Negotiator for Afghanistan is introduced with his requests from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for 25,000 American troops to stabilize Afghanistan once the Taliban were on the run. His response sets the theme for US policy – they were already planning for Iraq by December, 2001 and stated that “we don’t do police work.” CIA operative Gary Bersten is another character that is symbolic of American negligence in response to 9/11. Bersten was with a small group of special operatives working with Afghan tribal forces trying to root out al-Qaeda and Bin-Laden from Tora Bora. He requested troops to seal the Afghani-Pakistan border to block their escape. Rumsfeld and the Bush administration refused as General Tommy Franks was already gaming the coming war in Iraq. A 2009 Senate report reinforced Bersten’s view that the United States had passed on killing Bin-Laden – we can only conjecture how history might have been altered had we not done so.
Of course Lamb describes the duplicity of General Parvis Musharraf, the Pakistani leader who the US tried to convince to turn against the Taliban. But he had his own difficulties with the Islamized leadership of his military and the ISI’s relationship with the Taliban. Musharraf did his best to squeeze the United States and in the end both sides gained what it wanted. Lamb’s explanations are clear, succinct, and easily understood with vignettes that are priceless, i.e., according to Undersecretary of Defense Richard Armitage on the topic of whether the Pakistanis could be trusted, “with Pakistan you get part of the story, never the whole story….How do you know when the Pakistanis are lying? Their lips are moving.”
Lamb’s discussion of the ISI-Taliban relationship goes back to 1979 and is developed through the Taliban’s victory in 1994. In a chapter entitled “Meeting Colonel Imam” Lamb lays out the history of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the development and training of the Taliban under the leadership of Amir Sultan Tamar, a Brigadier General in the Pakistani army who had trained with American Special Forces in 1974. Tamar reviewed the history of ISI control of the Afghan war against the Soviets and how they trained and armed the Islamic resistance. The ISI pulled the wool over American eyes as they controlled weapon distribution and strategy against the Soviets until they forced them out in 1989. The American role and naïveté is plain for all to see. Once the Soviets left, and the US turned away from Afghanistan, the ISI and its Taliban allies would achieve power in Kabul. Lamb’s analysis and depth of knowledge contribute to an understanding of how the US was duped by the Pakistanis in the 1980s, a process that would continue for decades.
In reading Lamb’s memoir one can only become frustrated and angry. She castigated British policy makers as on a number of occasions they placed their soldiers in untenable situations without the proper equipment. Her discussion of Sangin, the world’s largest narco state, is unnerving and resulted in numerous deaths that could have been prevented. Her comments at times are sarcastic and acerbic as she describes what was supposed to be the “post-Taliban world.” Her access to Karzai allows her to pinpoint the problem that is Afghanistan; corruption, tribal rivalry, the lack of border control, and his relationship with Pakistani President Musharraf. Lamb confronts Karzai repeatedly and receives the same tired answers dealing with security and trying to balance the different tribal interests. The greatest problems seem to center on Islamic infiltration of the Pakistani military, and the radicalization of South Waziristan on the Pakistani border. This created sanctuary and infiltration routes for the Taliban to return to Afghanistan. By 2007 they had returned in full creating a renewed Afghani civil war.
Lamb zeroes in on the British role in Helmand province and the problem created by the drug trade. Helmand produces 95% of the opium smuggled into Europe. Further, since the opium poppies grown by Afghani farmers are their only source of income it becomes almost impossible to make positive inroads because there is no substitute to support their families. Lamb’s discussion of the interrelationship between the drug trade, the warlords, government corruption, the Taliban, and plight of the farmers is excellent.
One of the most poignant and aggravating chapters in the book deals with the murder of a young female poet, Nadia Anjuman by her husband. Lamb uses her life story as a vehicle to describe the lives of women under the Taliban and Karzai regimes. Using the Herat Literary Society to focus on the treatment of women, Lamb describes the lives of women from the lowliest wife, to a woman who created a factory to produce jam, to the only female prosecutor in Afghanistan, to an outspoken female member of parliament, all who lived in fear for their lives. On paper it may have appeared that the plight of women improved once the Taliban was defeated, but today the reality is the opposite.
Lamb takes the reader through Afghan history since the 19th century by presenting an “assassination tour,” describing the deaths of most Afghani kings and presidents. It is no wonder that Karzai is called the “mayor of Kabul.” Violence in Afghanistan increased in 2006 as the Taliban began to adopt Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s tactics from Iraq – ieds, suicide bombers etc. Lamb also provides repeated examples of Pakistani duplicity by allowing rocket attacks from its territory, supplying weapons and safe haven for the Taliban, and the two-faced approach of President Musharraf, despite receiving $100 million in aid per month. The end result is 2.6 million Afghani refugees in Pakistan. Dealing with Musharraf was surreal, almost an alternate reality as the US tried to influence his actions. For the Pakistani president it was more important to keep his border with Afghanistan calm so he could concentrate on Kashmir and India. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto fit the pattern of violence that was growing worse within Pakistan under Musharraf. Her return in 2007 angered the Pakistani military who saw her as a political and economic threat, ultimately causing her death. The military denied complicity, but all the evidence seems to lead to their leadership.
According to British General Martin Carlton-Smith, by 2008 the goal of ending the insurgency in Helmand was giving way to reducing it sufficiently in order for the Afghan army to take control in some manageable way. London realized that the only solution was by negotiating with the Taliban. A political settlement was the only way to bring peace as it had done in Northern Ireland. For Lamb it was the first time higher ups had admitted the war could not be won militarily. When these comments went public, taken in association with British withdrawal from Basra in Iraq in September, 2007, and major disagreements between the US and British commands, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates saw it as defeatism.
However, by 2008 the Taliban controlled two-thirds of Afghanistan and grew increasingly daring as they set their sights on Kabul with a series of devastating suicide bombings and assassinations. Evidence emerged that attacks on the Indian embassy and the Kabul Serena Hotel were directed by Pakistani handlers. A CIA investigation led to the Haqqani network in North Waziristan, a group with strong ties to the ISI. With the attacks the US could no longer ignore what their Pakistani ally was perpetrating. For Washington it served as a wake up for the reality that was Pakistan.
By 2009 Lamb was transferred to Washington as she was fascinated by the new Obama administration. What followed was the disjointed policy of a president who wanted to end America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama was a conflicted president who had no desire to continue fighting. He distrusted his military leadership and the feelings were reciprocated. Lamb presents Generals Stanley McChrystal and David Petraeus and their larger than life personalities and strategies. But the overriding concern was Obama’s view of wars that he had little interest in continuing. In addition, Lamb is correct that the problem was not military but political, especially in Afghanistan where the government was the fifth most corrupt regime in the world and the people had no faith in “Karzai Incorporated.” Petraeus knew early on that for counter-insurgency to work you needed local partners. Instead he had Karzai and Musharraf’s successor, Asif Zardari, Benazir Bhutto’s widower. Lamb concludes that Obama and Joe Biden, his Vice President were out of their league and despite agreeing to a surge of 30,000 troops he set a deadline for their return – telegraphing to the Taliban to hang on for two more years. After accompanying Biden to Islamabad, US Senator Lindsay Graham summed it up best, “the whole fucking place is burning down here, pal!”
There is a sadness to Lamb’s account in that so many errors were made and so much duplicity existed as she encounters the myriad of factions that existed in the region. By 2014 when her story ends things have grown increasingly worse, more so than they might have been before 9/11. For Lamb, the region is like a magnet whose pull she could not escape. Even when all seemed lost she is drawn to one final visit. There have been many books written about events in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, but Lamb‘s account must be placed very close to the top of the list, particularly because of her values and journalistic expertise.
Lamb presents an excellent history of a period of Anglo-American foreign policy that is wrought with mistakes, ignorance, and doing too little too late. In so doing, Lamb discusses an exceptional amount of information and analysis interspersed with her personal observations of her tenure in southwest Asia. She follows the story from the Soviet invasion of 1979, their ultimate defeat, the failure of the United States to maintain interest in the area, the rise of the Taliban, the American invasion, the tragedy of Iraq, the resurgence of the Taliban, the Mumbai attack, the killing of Bin-Laden, and the final withdrawal of American and NATO troops by 2014. What is amazing is that Lamb seems to be everywhere that major events are transpiring. Further, her “army” of contacts and sources make her writing indispensable to understand the history of the region.
One of her most telling comments among many throughout her narrative is that the United States had spent more money in Afghanistan than it had on the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Europe after World War II. Lamb watched events in Afghanistan for over 13 years and wondered how a war could be fought when there was no real border with Pakistan, which provided the enemy with safe haven. Further, she was incredulous when the United States fought a war on the “cheap,” committing few troops and soon becoming distracted by a new war in Iraq of its own making based on false information. In addition, the US turned a blind eye to its “supposed” ally, Pakistan whose intelligence service, the ISI had created the Taliban and provided an escape route for Osama Bin-Laden when American Special Forces had him cornered in Tora Bora in December, 2001. The entire operation and decision making can be summed up in one term, and I apologize if it insults some – a “cluster-fuck.” Much of Lamb’s analysis reminds me of Francis Fitzgerald’s FIRE IN THE LAKE, as the United States seemed purposefully ignorant of the culture that they were up against and did little to rectify it until it was too late.
Throughout her memoir Lamb describes the beautiful landscapes that she experienced, be it the Hindu Kush or the flowers and beautiful kites of Kabul. Despite all the tragedies that she witnessed she always seems to return to the joys that mother-nature afforded. It seems to me the major tragedy was how the Bush administration brushed off all warnings concerning a possible al-Qaeda attack from CIA Director George Tenet, Richard Clarke, Clinton’s terror advisor, members of the Northern Alliance, and even from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bush advisors saw this as sour grapes since the Russians had been defeated in Afghanistan by Bin-Laden and Company and the result was 9/11.
Lamb describes numerous characters who are germane to her story. The first, is indicative of the myriad of types she ran across. Wais Faizi, who managed the Mustafa Hotel and had lived in the United States, was known as “the Fonz of Kabul,” and drove around in a 1968 Chevy Camaro convertible. More significant was her relationship with Hamid Karzai who at the outset warned that the ISI was funneling American aid money to the Taliban. Lamb follows Karzai’s political career and his tenuous relationship with the United States and Pakistan throughout his presidency. James Dobbins, the United States Special Negotiator for Afghanistan is introduced with his requests from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for 25,000 American troops to stabilize Afghanistan once the Taliban were on the run. His response sets the theme for US policy – they were already planning for Iraq by December, 2001 and stated that “we don’t do police work.” CIA operative Gary Bersten is another character that is symbolic of American negligence in response to 9/11. Bersten was with a small group of special operatives working with Afghan tribal forces trying to root out al-Qaeda and Bin-Laden from Tora Bora. He requested troops to seal the Afghani-Pakistan border to block their escape. Rumsfeld and the Bush administration refused as General Tommy Franks was already gaming the coming war in Iraq. A 2009 Senate report reinforced Bersten’s view that the United States had passed on killing Bin-Laden – we can only conjecture how history might have been altered had we not done so.
Of course Lamb describes the duplicity of General Parvis Musharraf, the Pakistani leader who the US tried to convince to turn against the Taliban. But he had his own difficulties with the Islamized leadership of his military and the ISI’s relationship with the Taliban. Musharraf did his best to squeeze the United States and in the end both sides gained what it wanted. Lamb’s explanations are clear, succinct, and easily understood with vignettes that are priceless, i.e., according to Undersecretary of Defense Richard Armitage on the topic of whether the Pakistanis could be trusted, “with Pakistan you get part of the story, never the whole story….How do you know when the Pakistanis are lying? Their lips are moving.”
Lamb’s discussion of the ISI-Taliban relationship goes back to 1979 and is developed through the Taliban’s victory in 1994. In a chapter entitled “Meeting Colonel Imam” Lamb lays out the history of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the development and training of the Taliban under the leadership of Amir Sultan Tamar, a Brigadier General in the Pakistani army who had trained with American Special Forces in 1974. Tamar reviewed the history of ISI control of the Afghan war against the Soviets and how they trained and armed the Islamic resistance. The ISI pulled the wool over American eyes as they controlled weapon distribution and strategy against the Soviets until they forced them out in 1989. The American role and naïveté is plain for all to see. Once the Soviets left, and the US turned away from Afghanistan, the ISI and its Taliban allies would achieve power in Kabul. Lamb’s analysis and depth of knowledge contribute to an understanding of how the US was duped by the Pakistanis in the 1980s, a process that would continue for decades.
In reading Lamb’s memoir one can only become frustrated and angry. She castigated British policy makers as on a number of occasions they placed their soldiers in untenable situations without the proper equipment. Her discussion of Sangin, the world’s largest narco state, is unnerving and resulted in numerous deaths that could have been prevented. Her comments at times are sarcastic and acerbic as she describes what was supposed to be the “post-Taliban world.” Her access to Karzai allows her to pinpoint the problem that is Afghanistan; corruption, tribal rivalry, the lack of border control, and his relationship with Pakistani President Musharraf. Lamb confronts Karzai repeatedly and receives the same tired answers dealing with security and trying to balance the different tribal interests. The greatest problems seem to center on Islamic infiltration of the Pakistani military, and the radicalization of South Waziristan on the Pakistani border. This created sanctuary and infiltration routes for the Taliban to return to Afghanistan. By 2007 they had returned in full creating a renewed Afghani civil war.
Lamb zeroes in on the British role in Helmand province and the problem created by the drug trade. Helmand produces 95% of the opium smuggled into Europe. Further, since the opium poppies grown by Afghani farmers are their only source of income it becomes almost impossible to make positive inroads because there is no substitute to support their families. Lamb’s discussion of the interrelationship between the drug trade, the warlords, government corruption, the Taliban, and plight of the farmers is excellent.
One of the most poignant and aggravating chapters in the book deals with the murder of a young female poet, Nadia Anjuman by her husband. Lamb uses her life story as a vehicle to describe the lives of women under the Taliban and Karzai regimes. Using the Herat Literary Society to focus on the treatment of women, Lamb describes the lives of women from the lowliest wife, to a woman who created a factory to produce jam, to the only female prosecutor in Afghanistan, to an outspoken female member of parliament, all who lived in fear for their lives. On paper it may have appeared that the plight of women improved once the Taliban was defeated, but today the reality is the opposite.
Lamb takes the reader through Afghan history since the 19th century by presenting an “assassination tour,” describing the deaths of most Afghani kings and presidents. It is no wonder that Karzai is called the “mayor of Kabul.” Violence in Afghanistan increased in 2006 as the Taliban began to adopt Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s tactics from Iraq – ieds, suicide bombers etc. Lamb also provides repeated examples of Pakistani duplicity by allowing rocket attacks from its territory, supplying weapons and safe haven for the Taliban, and the two-faced approach of President Musharraf, despite receiving $100 million in aid per month. The end result is 2.6 million Afghani refugees in Pakistan. Dealing with Musharraf was surreal, almost an alternate reality as the US tried to influence his actions. For the Pakistani president it was more important to keep his border with Afghanistan calm so he could concentrate on Kashmir and India. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto fit the pattern of violence that was growing worse within Pakistan under Musharraf. Her return in 2007 angered the Pakistani military who saw her as a political and economic threat, ultimately causing her death. The military denied complicity, but all the evidence seems to lead to their leadership.
According to British General Martin Carlton-Smith, by 2008 the goal of ending the insurgency in Helmand was giving way to reducing it sufficiently in order for the Afghan army to take control in some manageable way. London realized that the only solution was by negotiating with the Taliban. A political settlement was the only way to bring peace as it had done in Northern Ireland. For Lamb it was the first time higher ups had admitted the war could not be won militarily. When these comments went public, taken in association with British withdrawal from Basra in Iraq in September, 2007, and major disagreements between the US and British commands, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates saw it as defeatism.
However, by 2008 the Taliban controlled two-thirds of Afghanistan and grew increasingly daring as they set their sights on Kabul with a series of devastating suicide bombings and assassinations. Evidence emerged that attacks on the Indian embassy and the Kabul Serena Hotel were directed by Pakistani handlers. A CIA investigation led to the Haqqani network in North Waziristan, a group with strong ties to the ISI. With the attacks the US could no longer ignore what their Pakistani ally was perpetrating. For Washington it served as a wake up for the reality that was Pakistan.
By 2009 Lamb was transferred to Washington as she was fascinated by the new Obama administration. What followed was the disjointed policy of a president who wanted to end America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama was a conflicted president who had no desire to continue fighting. He distrusted his military leadership and the feelings were reciprocated. Lamb presents Generals Stanley McChrystal and David Petraeus and their larger than life personalities and strategies. But the overriding concern was Obama’s view of wars that he had little interest in continuing. In addition, Lamb is correct that the problem was not military but political, especially in Afghanistan where the government was the fifth most corrupt regime in the world and the people had no faith in “Karzai Incorporated.” Petraeus knew early on that for counter-insurgency to work you needed local partners. Instead he had Karzai and Musharraf’s successor, Asif Zardari, Benazir Bhutto’s widower. Lamb concludes that Obama and Joe Biden, his Vice President were out of their league and despite agreeing to a surge of 30,000 troops he set a deadline for their return – telegraphing to the Taliban to hang on for two more years. After accompanying Biden to Islamabad, US Senator Lindsay Graham summed it up best, “the whole fucking place is burning down here, pal!”
There is a sadness to Lamb’s account in that so many errors were made and so much duplicity existed as she encounters the myriad of factions that existed in the region. By 2014 when her story ends things have grown increasingly worse, more so than they might have been before 9/11. For Lamb, the region is like a magnet whose pull she could not escape. Even when all seemed lost she is drawn to one final visit. There have been many books written about events in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, but Lamb‘s account must be placed very close to the top of the list, particularly because of her values and journalistic expertise.
January 2, 2022
Well, I read this after the ultimate ‘Farwell Kabul’ in 2021 where the US troops have been pulled out of Afghanistan and as expected, the Taliban have come back in to fill that void. I remember reading ‘Operation Snakebite’ where British troops would go into areas and clear the place of Taliban but as soon as they leave, back they came. It is war that can never be won. Everyone knew that from the Russian efforts in the 1980s and even before.
This is where the journalist, Christina Lamb, comes in with the mujaheddin fighting the Russians. Her first big assignment there was covering the Soviet withdrawal in 1989. This book begins in October 2014 when Helmand, now under control of Afghan forces, commanded by Major General Sayed Malouk, would see the British forces leave the area and the country. Is it a victory? 453 British soldiers dead and the Taliban waiting in the wings to take back control. In fact, the Taliban declared victory. On top of this ISIS were forming a caliphate. 13 years after 9/11 and what had been achieved?
The word brave is banded about so much lately for things that are not brave in the slightest. You want to know the definition of brave? It’s Christina Lamb going into Pakistan on her own to interview Taliban ministers. It’s about her writing and telling it how it really is (was). She had lived in Pakistan. A lot of the book is looking at how that country protected al Qaeda and the Taliban after the US invasion.
She gets caught up in brutal firefights and has access to Hamid Karzai. The details of Karzai and his government are telling. Really enlightening. Some amazing stories.
I would say that you need much more than a passing interest in Afghanistan and the war to pick up this book and begin reading. As a British journalist for The Times the book is more slanted towards the British forces in Afghanistan than the US and other nations. It is almost like a history book that should be read in schools. It is an education in itself.
This is where the journalist, Christina Lamb, comes in with the mujaheddin fighting the Russians. Her first big assignment there was covering the Soviet withdrawal in 1989. This book begins in October 2014 when Helmand, now under control of Afghan forces, commanded by Major General Sayed Malouk, would see the British forces leave the area and the country. Is it a victory? 453 British soldiers dead and the Taliban waiting in the wings to take back control. In fact, the Taliban declared victory. On top of this ISIS were forming a caliphate. 13 years after 9/11 and what had been achieved?
The word brave is banded about so much lately for things that are not brave in the slightest. You want to know the definition of brave? It’s Christina Lamb going into Pakistan on her own to interview Taliban ministers. It’s about her writing and telling it how it really is (was). She had lived in Pakistan. A lot of the book is looking at how that country protected al Qaeda and the Taliban after the US invasion.
She gets caught up in brutal firefights and has access to Hamid Karzai. The details of Karzai and his government are telling. Really enlightening. Some amazing stories.
I would say that you need much more than a passing interest in Afghanistan and the war to pick up this book and begin reading. As a British journalist for The Times the book is more slanted towards the British forces in Afghanistan than the US and other nations. It is almost like a history book that should be read in schools. It is an education in itself.
October 16, 2021
Christina Lamb is a brilliant foreign correspondent and writer. I’ve been following her work for many years and trust her analyses of issues completely. She has spent many years travelling in Pakistan and Afghanistan, investigating from every perspective the history and mindset of this turbulent region, interviewing heads of state, army generals, tribal leaders, jihadis, embedding with US and British troops, speaking to poor villagers and besieged city dwellers. The result is an in-depth analysis that has left me frustrated and depressed.
Reflecting on the West’s withdrawal from Helmand province in 2014, Lamb asks How on earth had the might of NATO…….not managed to defeat a group of ragtag religious students and farmers led by a one-eyed mullah his own colleagues described as ‘dumb in the mouth’? Despite the trillions of dollars that has been spent trying to bring Afghanistan under central control and to defeat al-Qaeda, we now have many offshoots of al-Qaeda across the Middle East and into Africa (al Shabaab in Somalia and Boko Haram in Nigeria), and ISIS, a far larger and more terrifying organisation than al-Qaeda has ever been. The situation is multiple times worse now than before and radicalisation is much more widespread. Citing Bush’s Operation Enduring Freedom as an example, Lamb argues that the West has never understood that All the air power in the world was of little use when what they were fighting was an ideology, not a conventional army.
Afghanistan and Pakistan, particularly the border areas, are notoriously unlawful places. The West, largely through the CIA, tries to control tribal chiefs with large bribes, while the Pakistani army and the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence service, are doing the same in addition to supporting the Taliban, al-Qaeda and jihadi training camps. Many tribal chiefs have become very wealthy and powerful by playing both sides while the local people live at a level of poverty it is hard to imagine in the West. Jihadis are smuggled across the border in both directions under the protection of the Pakistan Army. Their government looks away while pretending to work with the West to control border movement.
This is undoubtedly a 5 star work. I have given it 4 stars because I didn’t finish reading it. That is not a reflection of the excellence of the writing. Personally, I could not keep reading over and over about the gross incompetence of the West and the vast amount of money that has been wasted in trying to win a battle that was lost before it started. History should have taught our leaders that at least.
Reflecting on the West’s withdrawal from Helmand province in 2014, Lamb asks How on earth had the might of NATO…….not managed to defeat a group of ragtag religious students and farmers led by a one-eyed mullah his own colleagues described as ‘dumb in the mouth’? Despite the trillions of dollars that has been spent trying to bring Afghanistan under central control and to defeat al-Qaeda, we now have many offshoots of al-Qaeda across the Middle East and into Africa (al Shabaab in Somalia and Boko Haram in Nigeria), and ISIS, a far larger and more terrifying organisation than al-Qaeda has ever been. The situation is multiple times worse now than before and radicalisation is much more widespread. Citing Bush’s Operation Enduring Freedom as an example, Lamb argues that the West has never understood that All the air power in the world was of little use when what they were fighting was an ideology, not a conventional army.
Afghanistan and Pakistan, particularly the border areas, are notoriously unlawful places. The West, largely through the CIA, tries to control tribal chiefs with large bribes, while the Pakistani army and the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence service, are doing the same in addition to supporting the Taliban, al-Qaeda and jihadi training camps. Many tribal chiefs have become very wealthy and powerful by playing both sides while the local people live at a level of poverty it is hard to imagine in the West. Jihadis are smuggled across the border in both directions under the protection of the Pakistan Army. Their government looks away while pretending to work with the West to control border movement.
This is undoubtedly a 5 star work. I have given it 4 stars because I didn’t finish reading it. That is not a reflection of the excellence of the writing. Personally, I could not keep reading over and over about the gross incompetence of the West and the vast amount of money that has been wasted in trying to win a battle that was lost before it started. History should have taught our leaders that at least.
June 8, 2015
This was a deeply personal and heartfelt contemporary history of the Afghan war. Written by a journalist with a long, deep relationship with the country, it transcends many of the cliches and perspectives of much that has so far been written about this awful period. Highly critical of all sides, Lamb examines the nexus between Pakistan and terror and American strategic blindness. She reserves some of her fiercest criticism for the British, who's aimless expedition into Helmand she argues, only served to make a bad situation worse. Unfortunately this is a pattern often repeated, American offensives driving growth of the Taliban and Pakistani blindness creating a monster that now threatens its own survival as a viable nation. It's a big book but well worth the time for anybody who wants to enhance their understanding of this troubled corner of the world.
September 28, 2015
This is by far the best book I've read on Afghanistan. It is beautifully summed up just before the end, when Christina Lamb writes:
"Sad because I really believed that things didn’t have to be like this. Sad for all the hopes there once were, and for the lessons we did not learn from our ancestors and others who had tried to tame these lands before. Sad for all those lives lost or damaged. For the soldier Luke McCulloch, for Wais ‘the Fonz of Kabul’, for Nadia the poet, for Benazir, for all the tens of thousands of people killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 9/11, and the hundreds of thousands in Iraq and Syria.
Sad that I didn’t know how to help the women we left behind. Sad that thousands of schools were still being blown up in Pakistan, which despite everything had not stopped allowing the snakes in its garden. Sad that no Western leader took on Saudi Arabia, which had funded many of these jihadi movements, exported the Wahhabi ideology through madrassas, and fifteen of the nineteen hijackers on 9/11. Sad that the poppy fields of Afghanistan had become an unstoppable tide, poisoning the world’s streets in even greater numbers. Sad that $1 trillion had been spent in Afghanistan, yet its children still went to school in tents. Sad that because of what had happened we wouldn’t intervene again even when hundreds of thousands were killed. Sad that those sixty words drawn up in the White House in haste after 9/11 had indeed, as Congresswoman Barbara Lee feared, led to open-ended war. Most of all sad because I wasn't sure we had learned anything."
"Sad because I really believed that things didn’t have to be like this. Sad for all the hopes there once were, and for the lessons we did not learn from our ancestors and others who had tried to tame these lands before. Sad for all those lives lost or damaged. For the soldier Luke McCulloch, for Wais ‘the Fonz of Kabul’, for Nadia the poet, for Benazir, for all the tens of thousands of people killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 9/11, and the hundreds of thousands in Iraq and Syria.
Sad that I didn’t know how to help the women we left behind. Sad that thousands of schools were still being blown up in Pakistan, which despite everything had not stopped allowing the snakes in its garden. Sad that no Western leader took on Saudi Arabia, which had funded many of these jihadi movements, exported the Wahhabi ideology through madrassas, and fifteen of the nineteen hijackers on 9/11. Sad that the poppy fields of Afghanistan had become an unstoppable tide, poisoning the world’s streets in even greater numbers. Sad that $1 trillion had been spent in Afghanistan, yet its children still went to school in tents. Sad that because of what had happened we wouldn’t intervene again even when hundreds of thousands were killed. Sad that those sixty words drawn up in the White House in haste after 9/11 had indeed, as Congresswoman Barbara Lee feared, led to open-ended war. Most of all sad because I wasn't sure we had learned anything."
September 1, 2015
The first book on current affairs that made me weep. Probably because it is the story of my country and how we ended up where we are.
January 2, 2016
This was not at all the type of book that I normally read... but I found it fascinating. The writing was so good that it was a pleasure to read despite the dark and heavy content. Christina Lamb is a rare phenomenon - probably one of the last true journalists and it made me sad reading this, thinking how uncommon this profession will be in the future. One thing I particularly liked reading this was how the author, who undoubtedly had an encyclopaedic knowledge of international relations in general and Afghanistan in particular, was able to present her own clear opinion without the contrived mask of imbalance that bland-ifies and homogenises news reporting. Having said that, opinions were not shoved down throats but were uncovered slowly, cynically, devastatingly as the only possible human response to the staggering parade of stupidity that the book chronicles. This is really the key impact of the book: to show unflinchingly the incomprehensible incompetence, lack of preparation, shortsightedness and compromised self interest that defined the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The scale of errors and unnecessary violence that has unfolded over the last 15 years in the war on terror is staggering and makes me despair for our institutions of governance. Reading this book made me more aware of the complexity of international politics and gave me a greater appreciation of the very real threat of terrorism. It even showed me the logic of some of the responses that some western countries have made to this threat... but it also showed more clearly than I'd seen before how western military actions have magnified this threat and will continue to do so in the future. Fundamentally I feel this book shows that the logic of our current military actions is flawed and dangerously shortsighted. Specifically, our aggressive stance of offensive actions to murder enemy militants without regard for civilian causalities is a disaster that, apart from being morally abhorrent, will continue to come back to bite us in the future.
There were many scenes in this book where it seemed that the author, with her many years of expertise and experience in the region, had a perspective on the conflicts she was reporting that was different and deeper that the military leaders she was interacting with. I truly hope this bigger picture point of view penetrates the hierarchies of political and military power.
There were many scenes in this book where it seemed that the author, with her many years of expertise and experience in the region, had a perspective on the conflicts she was reporting that was different and deeper that the military leaders she was interacting with. I truly hope this bigger picture point of view penetrates the hierarchies of political and military power.
June 23, 2019
Brave. Outrageous. Complete.
First and foremost this book is a book of courage. I must admit in my opinion that the audacity displayed by the author to cover the ground stories in the AfPak region is unmatched.
The author has traveled to the AfPak region during the Soviet-Afganistan war and from there she has covered the life of people in the region for almost two decades ultimately bonding with them. This book will take you to the root cause for the spread of terrorism in the Islamic world; those mistakes we made by not taking simple lessons of history and how it takes more than a decade for the superpowers of the world to admit that they were mistaken.
It is saddening to reckon how human rights are being violated a few thousand miles away while the dialogue in the outer world is mutated or downplayed by bureaucracy. To one’s shock, reigns to tackle this problem is handed over to Pakistan - A country for which we never know who is in charge; an army that is more patriotic towards its religion than its nation and stands facing the accusation of providing safe heavens to the world's most wanted terrorist.
In the end, as a reminiscent Afgan says - "World will not care about us." - I sincerely hope this book acts as a living reminder of what the world has done to this country for the author has made sure that after reading the book one will share the same bonding and love as she has towards this country of war and poetry.
First and foremost this book is a book of courage. I must admit in my opinion that the audacity displayed by the author to cover the ground stories in the AfPak region is unmatched.
The author has traveled to the AfPak region during the Soviet-Afganistan war and from there she has covered the life of people in the region for almost two decades ultimately bonding with them. This book will take you to the root cause for the spread of terrorism in the Islamic world; those mistakes we made by not taking simple lessons of history and how it takes more than a decade for the superpowers of the world to admit that they were mistaken.
It is saddening to reckon how human rights are being violated a few thousand miles away while the dialogue in the outer world is mutated or downplayed by bureaucracy. To one’s shock, reigns to tackle this problem is handed over to Pakistan - A country for which we never know who is in charge; an army that is more patriotic towards its religion than its nation and stands facing the accusation of providing safe heavens to the world's most wanted terrorist.
In the end, as a reminiscent Afgan says - "World will not care about us." - I sincerely hope this book acts as a living reminder of what the world has done to this country for the author has made sure that after reading the book one will share the same bonding and love as she has towards this country of war and poetry.
September 10, 2016
One of the best books ever on the entire Middle East "situation"-history, current issues, presented from all sides and perspectives. Frustrations, ambitions, honorable people, corrupt leaders, it has everything. And it is so well put together-it's a lengthy book, but easy to follow along-despite the huge number of players and factions that are detailed. Her descriptions are vivid and heartfelt. Just extremely well written.
March 14, 2019
What a massive, comprehensive, discouraging, heartbreaking book. Pretty much a history of modern Afghanistan, interwoven with concise bits of colonial history, written by someone who reported on the region for 20+ years, someone who loved the people and hated what it became. Lamb is a reporter for The Sunday Times and tells the story pretty straight. In many ways, she was the Forrest Gump of the war on terror in that trouble area of the world. She was actually on the bus that was carrying Benazir Bhutto when it was bombed after she came back to Pakistan from exile, only to be assassinated just a few weeks in a still "unsolved" murder. She was embedded in both the British and American forces while they fought in Afghanistan and was a close friend of Hamid Karzai.
There were 3 things that really jumped out at me when reading about how awful the whole situation was/is:
1] The West went in with no idea of what they were getting into, no plan for how to get out of it, or even what the victory conditions would be. Which she found particularly galling for the British, who had already lost two grim wars in Afghanistan in the past 100 years. Everyone just kind of flailed about, trying things that obviously wouldn't work from the start. The Afghan people just knew they were only going to leave when the going got tough, so there was very little support from the beginning.
2] The heroin trade was unstoppable and no one had a plan for offering the farmers anything else nearly as easy or as profitable to grow as poppies. Given the choice between starving or growing an "illegal" crop, the farmers did what they could and grew what they could. And without any other options, they weren't going to change.
3] The West never figured out how to deal with Pakistan, who took US money, promising the fight the "war on terror", yet was one of the leading sponsors and protectors of the Taliban. They just liked an unstable Afghanistan and pushed US money and weapons into the region. The forces there were hamstrung, because after attacking, the Taliban would just scurry back to cover in Pakistan. And no amount of begging or pleading was going to change their minds. As long as the spoke the words the US and British government wanted to hear, the money would just come pouring in.
It is hard to pick which chapter was most depressing. Could it be the one about the assassination of Bhutto and the obvious Pakistan government cover up? I think a leading contender would be the distressingly upsetting chapter on the women of Afghanistan, both during and after the Taliban. In one of the most historic and literate cities in the country, Herat, the women formed a "sewing circle", one of the few activities the Taliban allowed women to participate in. But instead, behind closed doors and under penalty of death, they were taught how to read and write and became writers of poetry. One woman was especially revered and when the Taliban were finally forced out, things got marginally better for all of them. But then the old ways crept back in, with jealousy and "religious traditions" putting the boot on their throats once again. That leading author was murdered by her jealous husband, who got away scot free because of "traditions".
Or it could have been the infuriating chapter on the prisons of Afghanistan and Guantanamo. And the "enhanced interrogation" methods not merely condoned but encouraged. These people, innocent or not (and many of them probably were innocent), were just horribly treated and completely deprived of all their rights. I would like to say "that's not who we are" but no one has been penalize for this egregious trampling of all the United States should stand for. So how can I argue?
Well, there is no happy ending. The "war on terror" continues, with nary an end in sight, as was predicted when the very first law was past after 9/11. An open ended war where the President has far too much power. And, after all these deaths, is hardly any better than when we started, but certain folks have gotten rich and powerful off the "war".
So it was a long and painful 600 pages, but one that needed to be read. It ought to be read by everyone, so we don't let this happen again.
There were 3 things that really jumped out at me when reading about how awful the whole situation was/is:
1] The West went in with no idea of what they were getting into, no plan for how to get out of it, or even what the victory conditions would be. Which she found particularly galling for the British, who had already lost two grim wars in Afghanistan in the past 100 years. Everyone just kind of flailed about, trying things that obviously wouldn't work from the start. The Afghan people just knew they were only going to leave when the going got tough, so there was very little support from the beginning.
2] The heroin trade was unstoppable and no one had a plan for offering the farmers anything else nearly as easy or as profitable to grow as poppies. Given the choice between starving or growing an "illegal" crop, the farmers did what they could and grew what they could. And without any other options, they weren't going to change.
3] The West never figured out how to deal with Pakistan, who took US money, promising the fight the "war on terror", yet was one of the leading sponsors and protectors of the Taliban. They just liked an unstable Afghanistan and pushed US money and weapons into the region. The forces there were hamstrung, because after attacking, the Taliban would just scurry back to cover in Pakistan. And no amount of begging or pleading was going to change their minds. As long as the spoke the words the US and British government wanted to hear, the money would just come pouring in.
It is hard to pick which chapter was most depressing. Could it be the one about the assassination of Bhutto and the obvious Pakistan government cover up? I think a leading contender would be the distressingly upsetting chapter on the women of Afghanistan, both during and after the Taliban. In one of the most historic and literate cities in the country, Herat, the women formed a "sewing circle", one of the few activities the Taliban allowed women to participate in. But instead, behind closed doors and under penalty of death, they were taught how to read and write and became writers of poetry. One woman was especially revered and when the Taliban were finally forced out, things got marginally better for all of them. But then the old ways crept back in, with jealousy and "religious traditions" putting the boot on their throats once again. That leading author was murdered by her jealous husband, who got away scot free because of "traditions".
Or it could have been the infuriating chapter on the prisons of Afghanistan and Guantanamo. And the "enhanced interrogation" methods not merely condoned but encouraged. These people, innocent or not (and many of them probably were innocent), were just horribly treated and completely deprived of all their rights. I would like to say "that's not who we are" but no one has been penalize for this egregious trampling of all the United States should stand for. So how can I argue?
Well, there is no happy ending. The "war on terror" continues, with nary an end in sight, as was predicted when the very first law was past after 9/11. An open ended war where the President has far too much power. And, after all these deaths, is hardly any better than when we started, but certain folks have gotten rich and powerful off the "war".
So it was a long and painful 600 pages, but one that needed to be read. It ought to be read by everyone, so we don't let this happen again.
April 3, 2016
Quite a depressing read... Part memoir, part journalism, part history, Christina Lamb charts the West's involvement in Afghanistan since 11 September 2001 based on her work as a foreign correspondent in the region. Reading this, there's no way that the West's intervention in Afghanistan can be considered a success. The West totally messed things up, and *none* of the many politicians or military commanders involved over the years comes across well - it made me wonder if they realise how poorly history might judge them, if the portrayal in this book is anything to go by. It also looks a lot like the West has failed to draw the right lessons - there are recurring themes in other interventions, particularly an over-reliance on military means, and an alarming tendency to back the wrong people.
It's as much about Pakistan as it is about Afghanistan, and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence actually comes out as the biggest villain - I was really shocked just how nefarious they have been. Their links to an array of terrorist and insurgent groups, including the Afghan Taliban, were unbelievably extensive, and of course the billions of Western military aid to Pakistan were channelled to the very Taliban that the West was fighting.
It's also really disappointing to see how Pakistan has become more religious. Women's rights in particular seem to have eroded from a high point in the 70s and 80s. At one point, a Pakistani university professor shows Lamb a photo of his class today and one from a decade or so ago, and they really *should* have been the other way round.
Overall, a fascinating read, peppered with personal anecdotes, and it's obvious that Lamb misses her time in Afghanistan. It should really be treated as a memoir though - at times it's too personal, which I thought undermined the journalism a little.
It's as much about Pakistan as it is about Afghanistan, and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence actually comes out as the biggest villain - I was really shocked just how nefarious they have been. Their links to an array of terrorist and insurgent groups, including the Afghan Taliban, were unbelievably extensive, and of course the billions of Western military aid to Pakistan were channelled to the very Taliban that the West was fighting.
It's also really disappointing to see how Pakistan has become more religious. Women's rights in particular seem to have eroded from a high point in the 70s and 80s. At one point, a Pakistani university professor shows Lamb a photo of his class today and one from a decade or so ago, and they really *should* have been the other way round.
Overall, a fascinating read, peppered with personal anecdotes, and it's obvious that Lamb misses her time in Afghanistan. It should really be treated as a memoir though - at times it's too personal, which I thought undermined the journalism a little.
July 3, 2015
I'm showing this book as 'read' though in fact I've only got through about half of it. But I don't think I'm going to finish it for a while, so...
It's a remarkable book, firstly because the detail is considerable: Lamb keeps extensive notebooks and is able to give the information over a period of years.
She writes well, and is always interesting, but for me the endless names became difficult to keep up with (both English and Muslim) and this makes it sometimes hard going. Plus it's not always easy to remember the place names, in spite of the helpful maps at the front of the book.
If you don't have any insight into the wars going on almost continually in Afghanistan in particular, then this is the book to read. It will help you grasp at least something of the complexity of the problems.
It's a remarkable book, firstly because the detail is considerable: Lamb keeps extensive notebooks and is able to give the information over a period of years.
She writes well, and is always interesting, but for me the endless names became difficult to keep up with (both English and Muslim) and this makes it sometimes hard going. Plus it's not always easy to remember the place names, in spite of the helpful maps at the front of the book.
If you don't have any insight into the wars going on almost continually in Afghanistan in particular, then this is the book to read. It will help you grasp at least something of the complexity of the problems.
March 25, 2016
A terribly sad book in that it shows mankind in all of its stupidity, arrogance, ignorance and power. No one in power comes out well in this very personnel tale of nearly 30 years of reporting on the enigma that is Afghanistan. Pompous Brits, corrupt Governments, Pakistan friend or foe, American Governments focused on domestic politics, constant change of key personnel, an imbalance on focusing on the military solution when a political solution was needed, a failure to learn from Russia and the fact that after spending a trillion dollars, the people, education and services were worse off.
Its a pity (for the people of Afghanistan) the book ends with no hope in sight.
Its a pity (for the people of Afghanistan) the book ends with no hope in sight.
July 24, 2016
I read about half this book, then gave it up.
The book covers too much territory, mostly not about Kabul, and focuses on Pakistan far too much. Plus, the author reports what she observes and adds nothing about herself, which is fine for an objective news article, but does not work in a book which appears to be comprised of articles stitched together. In addition, I found several factual errors, so the copy editor/ fact checker must have fallen asleep.
When will journalists learn, they can't write history? Memories, experiences yes, history no.
Read Emma Sky's The Unraveling. A much better book by a journalist.
The book covers too much territory, mostly not about Kabul, and focuses on Pakistan far too much. Plus, the author reports what she observes and adds nothing about herself, which is fine for an objective news article, but does not work in a book which appears to be comprised of articles stitched together. In addition, I found several factual errors, so the copy editor/ fact checker must have fallen asleep.
When will journalists learn, they can't write history? Memories, experiences yes, history no.
Read Emma Sky's The Unraveling. A much better book by a journalist.
August 26, 2021
Deeply heartbroken over what's happening in Afghanistan now, I wanted to know more about the never ending war. Christina Lamb's book came out in 2015 and I'm sad that I'm missing what happened between then and now. But reading this as a history book has been very informative and you soon realize that probably not much has changed and history does repeat itself. Especially if it isn't that long ago.
This is beautiful written. Its an easy read and with a love for the Afghan people. Of course she is critical too but she does love this place and its people. If only more non-fiction books were written as good as this book.
This is beautiful written. Its an easy read and with a love for the Afghan people. Of course she is critical too but she does love this place and its people. If only more non-fiction books were written as good as this book.
January 18, 2020
Detailed, nuanced, incredibly informative and deeply engaging, this book is the result of the author's 27 years of reporting from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Washington, with access to many of the primary players and decisionmakers in all of these places. If you only read one book about Afghanistan's recent history and the war that has been going on for almost two decades now, make it this one.
July 1, 2021
A book full of lies and hate against pakistan. Just surprised how the writer can be so biased and they brain wash people against any country, group, religion and ethnic group. That's why yellow journalism exists. Will never recommend such hate books already there is much hate in the world. Plz spread love and peace.
May 29, 2016
Quintessential recital of the recent history and events in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq (to a lesser extent) from someone who was there and knew the players. Not for the faint hearted as it takes a month to read.
June 1, 2025
As someone who is keen on geopolitics and, at the time of picking up this book, had next to no knowledge about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, I felt duty-bound (particularly as an Englishman) to delve in to the topic.
From the first page to the last, this is war reporting and commentary of the highest calibre. If you have any knowledge gaps on this region from roughly the end of the Soviet withdrawal (1988-9), all the way to the mid-2010s, you won't find a more informative, unbiased account.
That's not to say there are no biases here, but that the facts on the ground are reported with virtually no personal opinions, save for the final page or so of the concluding chapter (where they are entirely welcome and appropriate).
I thank Christina Lamb for her moving account of a country she so deeply loves, one that I hope has more security, peace and happiness in the years to come. It would be a task to argue that another country has had it as hard.
From the first page to the last, this is war reporting and commentary of the highest calibre. If you have any knowledge gaps on this region from roughly the end of the Soviet withdrawal (1988-9), all the way to the mid-2010s, you won't find a more informative, unbiased account.
That's not to say there are no biases here, but that the facts on the ground are reported with virtually no personal opinions, save for the final page or so of the concluding chapter (where they are entirely welcome and appropriate).
I thank Christina Lamb for her moving account of a country she so deeply loves, one that I hope has more security, peace and happiness in the years to come. It would be a task to argue that another country has had it as hard.
August 26, 2024
Possibly the best book written after years of assiduously travelling and writing to the most upheaval nation of last fifty years where only death has been in the air .
If one wants to know of Afghanistan's troubled years since Russian occupation to Taliban takeover this is the book .
The book also unhesitatingly unmasks the role of ISI ,the Pakistani intelligence agency , in mudding the waters of rivers of the land of Pomegranates and how the U.S. has been funding Pakistan with money that they have been using against the Americans and ensuring the pot burning for the longr it is the more money there they can make .
Brilliantly written and unputtable ..one has to read what the author writes towards the end ' It would take a whole book to explain ' and explains so well .
History buff would certainly find it engrossing
If one wants to know of Afghanistan's troubled years since Russian occupation to Taliban takeover this is the book .
The book also unhesitatingly unmasks the role of ISI ,the Pakistani intelligence agency , in mudding the waters of rivers of the land of Pomegranates and how the U.S. has been funding Pakistan with money that they have been using against the Americans and ensuring the pot burning for the longr it is the more money there they can make .
Brilliantly written and unputtable ..one has to read what the author writes towards the end ' It would take a whole book to explain ' and explains so well .
History buff would certainly find it engrossing
July 17, 2024
Farewell Kabul is an outstanding recount of modern Afghanistan's history. Lamb's personal experiences from the front lines are deeply engaging and make the book a real page-turner. Her detailed stories provide valuable insights into the Afghan war and her focus on Pakistan's role highlights the intertwined histories of Afghanistan and Pakistan. This book is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the region's recent past, especially the war with America and Pakistan's influence in Afghanistan.
Read
January 2, 2025I feel like this book didn’t quite know what it wanted to be. A mix of journalism, history and memoir it was all a little too disjointed. The topics were very interesting and I feel I learnt a lot. But it was a very long book, with too much repetition and unnecessary name dropping for connection making. I would definitely recommend if you already had an interest and basic knowledge.
December 27, 2023
I admire Christina Lamb’s life and would love to sit down and watch her carry out her journalistic work!!! This is an amazing book about Afghanistan and honestly one of my favorites by a journalist (this is my third one). Definitely worth a read if you’d like to learn more about the country
August 26, 2024
That final line punches you in the stomach…
December 12, 2025
“All the air power in the world was of little use when what they were really fighting was an ideology, not a conventional army."
Read in Isla Holbox and Valladolid, Mexico (July 2025)
Read in Isla Holbox and Valladolid, Mexico (July 2025)
October 4, 2021
In 2014, '$1 trillion had been spent in Afghanistan, yet its children still went to school in tents.' - this is not the book to cheer you up on a dark day, yet it gives you a great understanding of how the West blundered into an awful situation from which defeat was the only possible outcome.
Christiana Lamb was a journalist in Afghanistan from just after 9/11 to 2014. It didn't take her long to realise that the West were fighting the wrong battle, in the wrong country, against the wrong people. Much of the violence was orchestrated by the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, who saw the Taliban as their natural allies in the proxy war in Indian Kashmir. She quotes one US officer ‘I went from thinking they were playing both sides, to thinking they were backing the other side, to realising they are the other side.’
This book has some great historical insights. For example, the Battle of Maiwand, in 1880, where the Afghans massacred the Brits, is their equivalent of Agincourt and the Battle of Britain put together. It even has their Afghan version of Joan of Arc - Malalai, after whom the famous activist is named. To most of the population the Battle of Maiwand could have happened yesterday. Maiwand just happens to be near to where British troops were deployed in 2006 with disastrous results.
The book also gives an excellent understanding of the political situation at many levels. The Afghans welcomed the Taliban when they removed brutal and corrupt warlords. Many of these warlords were appointed to power again by the Western-backed government. It was all too easy to label your rival tribe or village as "Taliban", resulting in massacres of innocent civilians.
The West got its priorities wrong from the start by being out of touch with people on the ground. They wanted clean water, jobs, health care and security. What they got were farcical elections and overpaid Western consultants, living in air-conditioned bubbles. The fractured command structure of the US and NATO forces, and the confused military objectives, also contributed to the failure. The Americans became obsessed with so-called "kinetic solutions" - killing the enemy and counting the bodies - rather than stopping the source of the conflict.
This book made me realise how little I actually understood about our involvement in Afghanistan, even though it had been on TV almost every night for almost 20 years. It is excellently written, and the extensive research is deftly inserted into anecdotes from the author's own experience. It's a tragic tale, but well worth reading.
Christiana Lamb was a journalist in Afghanistan from just after 9/11 to 2014. It didn't take her long to realise that the West were fighting the wrong battle, in the wrong country, against the wrong people. Much of the violence was orchestrated by the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, who saw the Taliban as their natural allies in the proxy war in Indian Kashmir. She quotes one US officer ‘I went from thinking they were playing both sides, to thinking they were backing the other side, to realising they are the other side.’
This book has some great historical insights. For example, the Battle of Maiwand, in 1880, where the Afghans massacred the Brits, is their equivalent of Agincourt and the Battle of Britain put together. It even has their Afghan version of Joan of Arc - Malalai, after whom the famous activist is named. To most of the population the Battle of Maiwand could have happened yesterday. Maiwand just happens to be near to where British troops were deployed in 2006 with disastrous results.
The book also gives an excellent understanding of the political situation at many levels. The Afghans welcomed the Taliban when they removed brutal and corrupt warlords. Many of these warlords were appointed to power again by the Western-backed government. It was all too easy to label your rival tribe or village as "Taliban", resulting in massacres of innocent civilians.
The West got its priorities wrong from the start by being out of touch with people on the ground. They wanted clean water, jobs, health care and security. What they got were farcical elections and overpaid Western consultants, living in air-conditioned bubbles. The fractured command structure of the US and NATO forces, and the confused military objectives, also contributed to the failure. The Americans became obsessed with so-called "kinetic solutions" - killing the enemy and counting the bodies - rather than stopping the source of the conflict.
This book made me realise how little I actually understood about our involvement in Afghanistan, even though it had been on TV almost every night for almost 20 years. It is excellently written, and the extensive research is deftly inserted into anecdotes from the author's own experience. It's a tragic tale, but well worth reading.
October 5, 2021
In 2014, '$1 trillion had been spent in Afghanistan, yet its children still went to school in tents.' - this is not the book to cheer you up on a dark day, yet it gives you a great understanding of how the West blundered into an awful situation, from which defeat was the only possible outcome.
Christiana Lamb was a journalist in Afghanistan from just after 9/11 to 2014. It didn't take her long to realise that the West were fighting the wrong battle, in the wrong country, against the wrong people. Much of the violence was orchestrated by the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, who saw the Taliban as their natural allies in proxy war in Indian Kashmir. She quotes one US officer ‘I went from thinking they were playing both sides, to thinking they were backing the other side, to realising they are the other side.’
This book has some great historical insights. For example, the Battle of Maiwand, in 1880, where the Afghans massacred the Brits, is their equivalent of Agincourt and the Battle of Britain put together. It even has their Afghan version of Joan of Arc - Malalai, after whom the famous activist is named. To most of the population the Battle of Maiwand could have happened yesterday. Maiwand just happens to be near to where British troops were deployed in 2006 with disastrous results.
The book also gives an excellent understanding of the political situation at many levels. The Afghans welcomed the Taliban when they removed brutal and corrupt warlords. Many of these warlords were appointed to power again by the Western-backed government. It was all too easy to label your rival tribe or village as "Taliban", resulting in massacres of innocent civilians.
The West got its priorities wrong from the start by being out of touch with people on the ground. They wanted clean water, jobs, health care and security. What they got were farcical elections and overpaid Western consultants, living in air-conditioned bubbles. The fractured command structure of the US and NATO forces, and the confused military objectives, also contributed to the failure. The Americans became obsessed with so-called "kinetic solutions" - killing the enemy and counting the bodies - rather than stopping the source of the conflict.
This book made me realise how little I actually understood about our involvement in Afghanistan, even though it had been on TV almost every night for almost 20 years. It is excellently written, and the extensive research is deftly inserted into anecdotes from the author's own experience. It's a tragic tale, but well worth reading.
Christiana Lamb was a journalist in Afghanistan from just after 9/11 to 2014. It didn't take her long to realise that the West were fighting the wrong battle, in the wrong country, against the wrong people. Much of the violence was orchestrated by the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, who saw the Taliban as their natural allies in proxy war in Indian Kashmir. She quotes one US officer ‘I went from thinking they were playing both sides, to thinking they were backing the other side, to realising they are the other side.’
This book has some great historical insights. For example, the Battle of Maiwand, in 1880, where the Afghans massacred the Brits, is their equivalent of Agincourt and the Battle of Britain put together. It even has their Afghan version of Joan of Arc - Malalai, after whom the famous activist is named. To most of the population the Battle of Maiwand could have happened yesterday. Maiwand just happens to be near to where British troops were deployed in 2006 with disastrous results.
The book also gives an excellent understanding of the political situation at many levels. The Afghans welcomed the Taliban when they removed brutal and corrupt warlords. Many of these warlords were appointed to power again by the Western-backed government. It was all too easy to label your rival tribe or village as "Taliban", resulting in massacres of innocent civilians.
The West got its priorities wrong from the start by being out of touch with people on the ground. They wanted clean water, jobs, health care and security. What they got were farcical elections and overpaid Western consultants, living in air-conditioned bubbles. The fractured command structure of the US and NATO forces, and the confused military objectives, also contributed to the failure. The Americans became obsessed with so-called "kinetic solutions" - killing the enemy and counting the bodies - rather than stopping the source of the conflict.
This book made me realise how little I actually understood about our involvement in Afghanistan, even though it had been on TV almost every night for almost 20 years. It is excellently written, and the extensive research is deftly inserted into anecdotes from the author's own experience. It's a tragic tale, but well worth reading.
December 1, 2017
This is a fascinating recent history of Afghanistan (and Pakistan) from a number of different angles and a look at how the wars have impacted on people in the region and those who came from other continents. There are some powerful first-hand accounts from the front line. It’s well worth reading, as are Lamb’s books about Southern Africa, but I had a couple of issues…
The author offers a lot of opinions on just about every leading actor whether Afghan, Pakistani, American, British, government or insurgent, and these are almost all negative. Yet she suggests very little on what alternative courses of action might have been taken. In most cases decisions taken last century in Moscow and Washington appear to have made much of what happened in this century inevitable so some of the criticism seems harsh. Pakistan is the problem but they can’t be dealt with for reasons which predate 9/11.
There is also a tendency (not uncommon among writers about the region – e.g. Adam Curtis) to use selective reporting of 19th century history in order to fit in with the 21st century story. There are about a dozen mentions of the British defeat at Maiwand but none that I can recall of the battle at Kandahar 36 days later when the victors of that first battle were decisively beaten.
Mention of the latter battle would undermine the point being hammered in? According to Wiki “the battle of Kandahar brought to a close to the War. Ayub Khan had been decisively beaten….The British appointee Abdur Rahman was established as emir of Afghanistan under a protectorate which gave Britain control of Afghanistan’s foreign policy…retained the frontier territories ceded by the Treaty of Gandamark”. Surely they lost the battle but not the war? It wasn’t a total British victory and they did not achieve all their objectives but it was much more than just the failure at Maiwand. This isn't mentioned because it is inconsistent with the idea that foreign invaders always lose.
Also the limited British involvement in the 21st Century (however misguided) as a bit part player in America’s war is hardly comparable with world’s most powerful empire’s Great Game era meddling yet it is often portrayed as more of the same: the 2nd Afghan War is almost a running joke in this book with US and Afghans routinely alluding to it as a British defeat.
The author offers a lot of opinions on just about every leading actor whether Afghan, Pakistani, American, British, government or insurgent, and these are almost all negative. Yet she suggests very little on what alternative courses of action might have been taken. In most cases decisions taken last century in Moscow and Washington appear to have made much of what happened in this century inevitable so some of the criticism seems harsh. Pakistan is the problem but they can’t be dealt with for reasons which predate 9/11.
There is also a tendency (not uncommon among writers about the region – e.g. Adam Curtis) to use selective reporting of 19th century history in order to fit in with the 21st century story. There are about a dozen mentions of the British defeat at Maiwand but none that I can recall of the battle at Kandahar 36 days later when the victors of that first battle were decisively beaten.
Mention of the latter battle would undermine the point being hammered in? According to Wiki “the battle of Kandahar brought to a close to the War. Ayub Khan had been decisively beaten….The British appointee Abdur Rahman was established as emir of Afghanistan under a protectorate which gave Britain control of Afghanistan’s foreign policy…retained the frontier territories ceded by the Treaty of Gandamark”. Surely they lost the battle but not the war? It wasn’t a total British victory and they did not achieve all their objectives but it was much more than just the failure at Maiwand. This isn't mentioned because it is inconsistent with the idea that foreign invaders always lose.
Also the limited British involvement in the 21st Century (however misguided) as a bit part player in America’s war is hardly comparable with world’s most powerful empire’s Great Game era meddling yet it is often portrayed as more of the same: the 2nd Afghan War is almost a running joke in this book with US and Afghans routinely alluding to it as a British defeat.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews