What do you think?
Rate this book
Fool's Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan
"In Fool's Errand, Scott Horton masterfully explains the tragedy of America's longest war and makes the case for immediate withdrawal. I highly recommend this excellent book on America's futile and self-defeating occupation of Afghanistan." -- Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower and author of A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers
319 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 16, 2017
198 people are currently reading
1188 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
April 17, 2025
"ফুল’স এরান্ড": আফগান যুদ্ধের এক ট্র্যাজিক মাস্টারপিস বই
স্কট হর্টনের "ফুল’স এরান্ড" শুধু একটি বই নয়—এটি আফগানিস্তানে মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের ২০ বছরের ব্যর্থতার রক্তাক্ত দলিল। বইটিকে আপনি যেভাবেই দেখুন না কেন—
একটি নিষ্ঠুর ট্র্যাজেডি
সাম্রাজ্যবাদের দর্পণ
যুদ্ধবাজ শক্তির অহংকারের ধ্বংসস্তূপ
"এই বই শুধু ইতিহাস নয়—এটি একটি ভবিষ্যতবাণী। যারা ইরাক, সিরিয়া বা ইউক্রেনে আমেরিকার ভূমিকা বুঝতে চান, তাদের অবশ্যই এই ট্র্যাজিক টেমপ্লেটটি পড়া উচিত।"
"এই বই কোনো ষড়যন্ত্র তত্ত্ব নয়—এটি পুঁজিবাদের সেই নগ্ন রূপ যা যুদ্ধকে 'বাজারে পরিণত করেছে'।
আপনি কখনই CNN/BBC-এর যুদ্ধ সংবাদ একই চোখে দেখবেন না
"সন্ত্রাসবাদের বিরুদ্ধে যুদ্ধ" শব্দগুচ্ছ নতুন অর্থ পাবে
বুঝবেন কেন ইতিহাস নিজেকে পুনরাবৃত্তি করে
স্কট হর্টনের "ফুল’স এরান্ড" শুধু একটি বই নয়—এটি আফগানিস্তানে মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের ২০ বছরের ব্যর্থতার রক্তাক্ত দলিল। বইটিকে আপনি যেভাবেই দেখুন না কেন—
একটি নিষ্ঠুর ট্র্যাজেডি
সাম্রাজ্যবাদের দর্পণ
যুদ্ধবাজ শক্তির অহংকারের ধ্বংসস্তূপ
"এই বই শুধু ইতিহাস নয়—এটি একটি ভবিষ্যতবাণী। যারা ইরাক, সিরিয়া বা ইউক্রেনে আমেরিকার ভূমিকা বুঝতে চান, তাদের অবশ্যই এই ট্র্যাজিক টেমপ্লেটটি পড়া উচিত।"
"এই বই কোনো ষড়যন্ত্র তত্ত্ব নয়—এটি পুঁজিবাদের সেই নগ্ন রূপ যা যুদ্ধকে 'বাজারে পরিণত করেছে'।
আপনি কখনই CNN/BBC-এর যুদ্ধ সংবাদ একই চোখে দেখবেন না
"সন্ত্রাসবাদের বিরুদ্ধে যুদ্ধ" শব্দগুচ্ছ নতুন অর্থ পাবে
বুঝবেন কেন ইতিহাস নিজেকে পুনরাবৃত্তি করে
August 22, 2017
Important for all Americans. Read and be reminded of what a ridiculous quagmire the War in Afghanistan has been from the start. Campaign for withdrawal.
February 7, 2018
Fool’s Errand: Time to end the war in Afghanistan by Scott Horton.
Scott Horton has spent much of the past two odd decades giving a voice to the most ardent anti-war activists and minds. He has never denied a guest to talk because of ideology, race, religion or region instead he has provided thousands of hours of histories for present and future generations to digest and consider. As remarkable and diligent that this is, it tragically is not enough to stop the futility of human mass violence. Fool’s Errand is the emergence of Horton as a credible book writer and historian based upon his interactions and accumulation over the decades.
It is a book that addresses the mostly American war in Afghanistan, one that seems rhythmic with its historical beats and bloody thrusts reminiscent to the British and Soviet empires attempts to contain the diverse though brutally rugged region of Central Asia. The information that Horton provides is a constant reminder of hubris and devastation for the region and wider world.
Horton’s prose is to the point and unlike many writers who hold a determined philosophy he lets the events, language and facts speak for themselves with a restraint on excess narrative. The actors, those tragic and vile but mostly those innocent and unnamed are left to take centre stage. It does not matter if Horton is a libertarian to the reader, the book does not preach where others do. It is simply honest, it is anti-war.
The biggest fault of this book is also its strength, it is concise. It reads as though it should have been a segment of a wider totality. It is and was. The reader can be left wanting more of Horton’s writing and to learn more about the subject at hand. The book is lightweight and a quick read, with easy to find references for those seeking argument or to gain knowledge when it comes to the recent calamity inside Afghanistan.
The book has plenty of footnotes and begs the reader to pursue their own investigations into the many surfaces that Horton has revealed. It makes this book a key introduction and update to those who claim to know about events or those willingly ignorant. Horton has provided a desperately needed counter punch to nauseating popular media and state-run drones rattling on with a perpetual push for more war and prideful mayhem.
The book is not a happy read, nor should it be. It is not a difficult read though, thanks to Horton’s writing and lay out. It gives a universal appeal to even those who shy away from the mature non-fiction realm of books about consequence. This is a must read for any one who wishes to know, not just about Afghanistan but the terror war and war in general.
It is also a book that the war fighters, the policy makers, the cheerleaders for death, arms builders, private contractor and civil servants of the state machine should dare to read. Because the power is inside them, they as individuals have the ability to quit or to say, “no more”. This book and its many foot notes provide them with moral fuel, a spark for dignity to denounce the bloody futility that their income stream ferments.
An important book of our time, Horton though not as well travelled as his peers has the intellect, wisdom and maturity as a multi-media journalist to provide us all with future reads and insights into the many facets of our civilised death culture.
Highly Recommended.
90%
Scott Horton has spent much of the past two odd decades giving a voice to the most ardent anti-war activists and minds. He has never denied a guest to talk because of ideology, race, religion or region instead he has provided thousands of hours of histories for present and future generations to digest and consider. As remarkable and diligent that this is, it tragically is not enough to stop the futility of human mass violence. Fool’s Errand is the emergence of Horton as a credible book writer and historian based upon his interactions and accumulation over the decades.
It is a book that addresses the mostly American war in Afghanistan, one that seems rhythmic with its historical beats and bloody thrusts reminiscent to the British and Soviet empires attempts to contain the diverse though brutally rugged region of Central Asia. The information that Horton provides is a constant reminder of hubris and devastation for the region and wider world.
Horton’s prose is to the point and unlike many writers who hold a determined philosophy he lets the events, language and facts speak for themselves with a restraint on excess narrative. The actors, those tragic and vile but mostly those innocent and unnamed are left to take centre stage. It does not matter if Horton is a libertarian to the reader, the book does not preach where others do. It is simply honest, it is anti-war.
The biggest fault of this book is also its strength, it is concise. It reads as though it should have been a segment of a wider totality. It is and was. The reader can be left wanting more of Horton’s writing and to learn more about the subject at hand. The book is lightweight and a quick read, with easy to find references for those seeking argument or to gain knowledge when it comes to the recent calamity inside Afghanistan.
The book has plenty of footnotes and begs the reader to pursue their own investigations into the many surfaces that Horton has revealed. It makes this book a key introduction and update to those who claim to know about events or those willingly ignorant. Horton has provided a desperately needed counter punch to nauseating popular media and state-run drones rattling on with a perpetual push for more war and prideful mayhem.
The book is not a happy read, nor should it be. It is not a difficult read though, thanks to Horton’s writing and lay out. It gives a universal appeal to even those who shy away from the mature non-fiction realm of books about consequence. This is a must read for any one who wishes to know, not just about Afghanistan but the terror war and war in general.
It is also a book that the war fighters, the policy makers, the cheerleaders for death, arms builders, private contractor and civil servants of the state machine should dare to read. Because the power is inside them, they as individuals have the ability to quit or to say, “no more”. This book and its many foot notes provide them with moral fuel, a spark for dignity to denounce the bloody futility that their income stream ferments.
An important book of our time, Horton though not as well travelled as his peers has the intellect, wisdom and maturity as a multi-media journalist to provide us all with future reads and insights into the many facets of our civilised death culture.
Highly Recommended.
90%
May 1, 2018
The US war in Afghanistan continues to be one of America’s longest military conflicts. Scott Horton describes it best as being “both the least supported and least opposed war in our history.” Fool’s Errand convincingly makes the case that decades of US foreign policy holds (at least some) responsibility for the awful terrorist attacks on 9/11, that invading and waging war on Afghanistan and the Taliban was unnecessary to bring those responsible for atrocity to justice, that the continued US occupation and “rebuilding” of Afghanistan was a strategic disaster resulting in destabilization and war crimes, and that currently the best policy decision for the US is immediate withdrawal. Horton covers an amazing amount of ground with a limited number of pages. Although brief and easily digestible, Fool’s Errand is heavily sourced with footnotes on each page, making it simple for readers research in depth specific details briefly mentioned in the book. One doesn’t need to come away agreeing with the author on every point to acknowledge how disastrous US foreign policy continues to be, especially in Afghanistan. One paragraph alone is enough to make you look more skeptically when confident politicians call for overseas military engagements, especially when cloaked in language of patriotism and international justice. We can’t change past mistakes, but we can try to make wiser decisions in the future. Scott Horton makes the strongest case yet that American involvement has made the situation in Afghanistan much worse and that the best thing to do for the people here and there is to simply bring our troops home.
June 25, 2018
Do you want to know why 9/11 happened? Do you want to know why the military budget grows year after year despite such unnecessary growth? Do you want to know why Middle Easterners actually hate us? Then look no further than "Fool's Errand."
We should all feel indebted to the work of Scott Horton in the research it must have taken to write this book. Even if you're not a fan of the rhetoric, you can at least appreciate the plethora of quotes and citations. Horton left no rock unturned, nor did he take it easy in criticizing the inane propaganda used to persuade the naive American masses into supporting wasteful perpetual protracted wars.
If you think you're an expert on America's involvement in the Middle East, and have yet to read this book, then you're sorely mistaken, or in denial about your own ignorance. I cannot recommend this book enough. Read it and weep, neocons...
We should all feel indebted to the work of Scott Horton in the research it must have taken to write this book. Even if you're not a fan of the rhetoric, you can at least appreciate the plethora of quotes and citations. Horton left no rock unturned, nor did he take it easy in criticizing the inane propaganda used to persuade the naive American masses into supporting wasteful perpetual protracted wars.
If you think you're an expert on America's involvement in the Middle East, and have yet to read this book, then you're sorely mistaken, or in denial about your own ignorance. I cannot recommend this book enough. Read it and weep, neocons...
September 14, 2017
Must-read material for those looking to understand the nature of America's war in Afghanistan.
November 3, 2017
Absolutely incredible. To know everything about the US-Afghan War and why we need to leave NOW, read Horton.
February 10, 2025
স্কট হর্টনের লেখা "ফুল'স এরান্ড" বইটি মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের ইতিহাসে সবচেয়ে দীর্ঘমেয়াদি যুদ্ধের নির্মোহ ও তথ্যনির্ভর সমালোচনা। লেখক নানাবিধ তথ্য-উপাত্ত বিশ্লেষণ করে দেখিয়েছেন, কিভাবে মার্কিন সরকার ও নীতিনির্ধারকেরা ভুল সিদ্ধান্তের মাধ্যমে আফগানিস্তানকে এক অনন্ত যুদ্ধের দিকে ঠেলে দিয়েছিল। বইটিতে যুদ্ধবিরোধী বয়ানের সাথে গবেষণালব্ধ তথ্যের আলোকে লেখক বলতে চেয়েছেন, আফগান যুদ্ধের কারণ, কৌশল এবং ফলাফল যেখানে আমেরিকা চূড়ান্তভাবে পরাজিত ও ব্যর্থ।
বইটি শুরু হয়েছে ২০০১ সালের ৯/১১-র সারা দুনিয়ায় আলোড়ন তৈরি করা স/ন্ত্রা/সী হা/ম/লা/র পটভূমি দিয়ে। লেখক ব্যাখ্যা করেছেন, কীভাবে ওসামা বিন লাদেন ও তার সংগঠন আ/ল-কা/য়ে/দা/র বিরুদ্ধে প্রতিশোধ নেওয়ার জন্য মার্কিন প্রশাসন আফগানিস্তানে সামরিক অভিযান চালানোর সিদ্ধান্ত নেয়। তা/লে/বা/ন সরকারকে ক্ষমতাচ্যুত করার জন্য যুক্তরাষ্ট্র আফগানিস্তানে হা/ম/লা চালায়।
লেখকের মতে, প্রাথমিকভাবে যুদ্ধের লক্ষ্য ছিল
আ/ল-কা/য়ে/দা/কে ধ্বংস করা কিন্তু পরবর্তীতে এটা "নেশন বিল্ডিং" প্রকল্পে রূপ নেয়। অর্থাৎ যুক্তরাষ্ট্র আফগানিস্তানে স/ন্ত্রা/সবাদের বিরুদ্ধে যুদ্ধের পাশাপাশি আফগানিস্তানে গণতন্ত্র প্রতিষ্ঠার নামে একটি পশ্চিমা-সমর্থিত সরকার গঠনের প্রচেষ্টা করেছিল। বাস্তবে, এই পরিকল্পনা ছিল দুর্নীতিগ্রস্ত ও বাস্তবতা বিবর্জিত।
স্কট হর্টন তার লেখায় বিশদভাবে ব্যাখ্যা করেছেন, কেন আফগান যুদ্ধ দীর্ঘায়িত হলো এবং কীভাবে মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের সিদ্ধান্ত এই যুদ্ধকে আরও জটিল করে তুলেছিল। যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের সেই সময়কার প্রেসিডেন্ট জর্জ ডব্লিউ বুশ, বারাক ওবামা - যুদ্ধ শেষ করার প্রতিশ্রুতি দিলেও শেষ পর্যন্ত তারা যুদ্ধ চালিয়েছিলেন। কারণ সারাবিশ্বে স/ন্ত্রা/সবাদের বিরুদ্ধে যুদ্ধ পরিচালনার স্বঘোষিত দায়িত্ব নিয়ে নয়া সাম্রাজ্যবাদী অবস্থান টিকিয়ে রাখার একটা রাজনৈতিক কৌশল ছিল। যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের অস্ত্র ব্যবসায়ী ও সামরিক বাহিনীর উচ্চপদস্থ কর্মকর্তারা এই যুদ্ধ চালিয়ে যাওয়ার ��ক্ষে ছিলেন। প্রতিরক্ষা শিল্পের সাথে প্রত্যক্ষভাবে যুক্ত মাল্টি ন্যাশনাল কোম্পানিগুলো এই যুদ্ধের ফলে বিভিন্নভাবে লাভবান হয়েছে।
মার্কিন সেনাবাহিনী তালেবানদের বিরুদ্ধে লড়াইয়ের সময় আফগানিস্তানের কিছু দুর্নীতিগ্রস্ত নেতাদের সঙ্গে জোট তৈরি করেছিল। ফলশ্রুতিতে সাধারণ আফগানদের মধ্যে হতাশা তৈরি হওয়ায় তারা তা/লে/বা/নদের প্রতি আরও সহানুভূতিশীল হয়ে ওঠেছিল।
এই যুদ্ধে পাকিস্তানের ভূমিকাটাও খুব ইন্টারেস্টিং। পাকিস্তান যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের পরীক্ষিত মিত্র হিসেবে থাকলেও অন্যদিকে গোপনে তা/লে/বানদের সমর্থন দিতো। এখানে পাকিস্তানের স্বার্থ ছিল আফগানিস্তানে ভারত-বিরোধী শক্তিশালী ইসলামপন্থী সরকার গঠন এবং টিকে থাকা। ফলে যুক্তরাষ্ট্র কখনোই তালেবানদের পুরোপুরি পরাজিত করতে পারেনি।
লেখকের দেখিয়েছেন , আফগানিস্তানে মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের যুদ্ধে মার্কিনীরা পুরোপুরি পরাজিত। এই যুদ্ধের কারণে আফগানিস্তান ধ্বংসপ্রাপ্ত হয়েছে এবং আফগানিস্তানের সাধারণ জনগণের জীবন দুর্বিষহ হয়ে উঠেছিল। এই যুদ্ধে আমেরিকার প্রায় ২ ট্রিলিয়ন ডলার ব্যয় হয়েছে। একটানা ২০ বছরের দীর্ঘ এই যুদ্ধে প্রায় ২,৪০০-এর বেশি মার্কিন সেনা নিহত হয়েছে এবং আরও হাজার হাজার আহত হয়েছে। যুদ্ধের বিভৎসতা, নৃশংসতা থেকে সৃষ্টি মানসিক ট্রমা ও হতাশার কারণে বহু মার্কিন সেনা আত্মহত্যা করেছেন। যুদ্ধের ফলে প্রচুর সংখ্যক আফগান নিহত বা বাস্তুচ্যুত হয়েছে।
আফগানিস্তানের অবকাঠামো ধ্বংস হয়েছে এবং অর্থনীতি বিপর্যস্ত হয়েছে।
এতো কিছুর পরেও যুক্তরাষ্ট্র তালেবানদের ধ্বংস করতে পারেনি। তাদের আবার পুনরুত্থান ঘটেছে। যুদ্ধ শেষে, ২০২১ সালে তালেবানরা আবার ক্ষমতা দখল করা প্রমাণ করে যে, যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের ২০ বছরের প্রচেষ্টা ছিল সম্পূর্ণ ব্যর্থ।
লেখকের ভাষ্যমতে,
আফগানিস্তানে যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের সামরিক হস্তক্ষেপ ছিল পুরোপুরি ভুল সিদ্ধান্ত।
মার্কিনীরা তা/লে/বা/ন ও আ/ল-কা/য়ে/দার মধ্যে পার্থক্য বুঝতে পারেনি। যুদ্ধ দীর্ঘ হওয়ার এটাও একটা কারণ।
ভূ-রাজনৈতিক ও সামরিক লাভালাভের আশায় এই যুদ্ধ বন্ধ করা হয়নি, যদিও এই যুদ্ধে বাস্তবিক অর্থে আমেরিকার কোনো সফলতা ছিল না।
এই যুদ্ধ আমেরিকার জন্য সামরিক শিক্ষা। এই ভুল থেকে শিক্ষা নিয়ে যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের উচিত অযৌক্তিক সামরিক হস্তক্ষেপ, আগ্রাসন বন্ধ করা।
"ফুল'স এরান্ড" বইটি আফগান যুদ্ধের ইতিহাস পাশাপাশি ইতিহাসের শিক্ষাও বলা যায়। চাপিয়ে দেয়া অপ্রয়োজনীয় যুদ্ধ শুধু ধ্বংস আর অরাজকতাই সৃষ্টি করে।
রাজনীতি, ইতিহাস, আন্তর্জাতিক রাজনীতি, যুদ্ধবিরোধী আন্দোলন, ভূরাজনীতি সম্পর্কে আগ্রহী পাঠকদের জন্য এটা চমৎকার একটা বই।
বইটি শুরু হয়েছে ২০০১ সালের ৯/১১-র সারা দুনিয়ায় আলোড়ন তৈরি করা স/ন্ত্রা/সী হা/ম/লা/র পটভূমি দিয়ে। লেখক ব্যাখ্যা করেছেন, কীভাবে ওসামা বিন লাদেন ও তার সংগঠন আ/ল-কা/য়ে/দা/র বিরুদ্ধে প্রতিশোধ নেওয়ার জন্য মার্কিন প্রশাসন আফগানিস্তানে সামরিক অভিযান চালানোর সিদ্ধান্ত নেয়। তা/লে/বা/ন সরকারকে ক্ষমতাচ্যুত করার জন্য যুক্তরাষ্ট্র আফগানিস্তানে হা/ম/লা চালায়।
লেখকের মতে, প্রাথমিকভাবে যুদ্ধের লক্ষ্য ছিল
আ/ল-কা/য়ে/দা/কে ধ্বংস করা কিন্তু পরবর্তীতে এটা "নেশন বিল্ডিং" প্রকল্পে রূপ নেয়। অর্থাৎ যুক্তরাষ্ট্র আফগানিস্তানে স/ন্ত্রা/সবাদের বিরুদ্ধে যুদ্ধের পাশাপাশি আফগানিস্তানে গণতন্ত্র প্রতিষ্ঠার নামে একটি পশ্চিমা-সমর্থিত সরকার গঠনের প্রচেষ্টা করেছিল। বাস্তবে, এই পরিকল্পনা ছিল দুর্নীতিগ্রস্ত ও বাস্তবতা বিবর্জিত।
স্কট হর্টন তার লেখায় বিশদভাবে ব্যাখ্যা করেছেন, কেন আফগান যুদ্ধ দীর্ঘায়িত হলো এবং কীভাবে মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের সিদ্ধান্ত এই যুদ্ধকে আরও জটিল করে তুলেছিল। যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের সেই সময়কার প্রেসিডেন্ট জর্জ ডব্লিউ বুশ, বারাক ওবামা - যুদ্ধ শেষ করার প্রতিশ্রুতি দিলেও শেষ পর্যন্ত তারা যুদ্ধ চালিয়েছিলেন। কারণ সারাবিশ্বে স/ন্ত্রা/সবাদের বিরুদ্ধে যুদ্ধ পরিচালনার স্বঘোষিত দায়িত্ব নিয়ে নয়া সাম্রাজ্যবাদী অবস্থান টিকিয়ে রাখার একটা রাজনৈতিক কৌশল ছিল। যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের অস্ত্র ব্যবসায়ী ও সামরিক বাহিনীর উচ্চপদস্থ কর্মকর্তারা এই যুদ্ধ চালিয়ে যাওয়ার ��ক্ষে ছিলেন। প্রতিরক্ষা শিল্পের সাথে প্রত্যক্ষভাবে যুক্ত মাল্টি ন্যাশনাল কোম্পানিগুলো এই যুদ্ধের ফলে বিভিন্নভাবে লাভবান হয়েছে।
মার্কিন সেনাবাহিনী তালেবানদের বিরুদ্ধে লড়াইয়ের সময় আফগানিস্তানের কিছু দুর্নীতিগ্রস্ত নেতাদের সঙ্গে জোট তৈরি করেছিল। ফলশ্রুতিতে সাধারণ আফগানদের মধ্যে হতাশা তৈরি হওয়ায় তারা তা/লে/বা/নদের প্রতি আরও সহানুভূতিশীল হয়ে ওঠেছিল।
এই যুদ্ধে পাকিস্তানের ভূমিকাটাও খুব ইন্টারেস্টিং। পাকিস্তান যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের পরীক্ষিত মিত্র হিসেবে থাকলেও অন্যদিকে গোপনে তা/লে/বানদের সমর্থন দিতো। এখানে পাকিস্তানের স্বার্থ ছিল আফগানিস্তানে ভারত-বিরোধী শক্তিশালী ইসলামপন্থী সরকার গঠন এবং টিকে থাকা। ফলে যুক্তরাষ্ট্র কখনোই তালেবানদের পুরোপুরি পরাজিত করতে পারেনি।
লেখকের দেখিয়েছেন , আফগানিস্তানে মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের যুদ্ধে মার্কিনীরা পুরোপুরি পরাজিত। এই যুদ্ধের কারণে আফগানিস্তান ধ্বংসপ্রাপ্ত হয়েছে এবং আফগানিস্তানের সাধারণ জনগণের জীবন দুর্বিষহ হয়ে উঠেছিল। এই যুদ্ধে আমেরিকার প্রায় ২ ট্রিলিয়ন ডলার ব্যয় হয়েছে। একটানা ২০ বছরের দীর্ঘ এই যুদ্ধে প্রায় ২,৪০০-এর বেশি মার্কিন সেনা নিহত হয়েছে এবং আরও হাজার হাজার আহত হয়েছে। যুদ্ধের বিভৎসতা, নৃশংসতা থেকে সৃষ্টি মানসিক ট্রমা ও হতাশার কারণে বহু মার্কিন সেনা আত্মহত্যা করেছেন। যুদ্ধের ফলে প্রচুর সংখ্যক আফগান নিহত বা বাস্তুচ্যুত হয়েছে।
আফগানিস্তানের অবকাঠামো ধ্বংস হয়েছে এবং অর্থনীতি বিপর্যস্ত হয়েছে।
এতো কিছুর পরেও যুক্তরাষ্ট্র তালেবানদের ধ্বংস করতে পারেনি। তাদের আবার পুনরুত্থান ঘটেছে। যুদ্ধ শেষে, ২০২১ সালে তালেবানরা আবার ক্ষমতা দখল করা প্রমাণ করে যে, যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের ২০ বছরের প্রচেষ্টা ছিল সম্পূর্ণ ব্যর্থ।
লেখকের ভাষ্যমতে,
আফগানিস্তানে যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের সামরিক হস্তক্ষেপ ছিল পুরোপুরি ভুল সিদ্ধান্ত।
মার্কিনীরা তা/লে/বা/ন ও আ/ল-কা/য়ে/দার মধ্যে পার্থক্য বুঝতে পারেনি। যুদ্ধ দীর্ঘ হওয়ার এটাও একটা কারণ।
ভূ-রাজনৈতিক ও সামরিক লাভালাভের আশায় এই যুদ্ধ বন্ধ করা হয়নি, যদিও এই যুদ্ধে বাস্তবিক অর্থে আমেরিকার কোনো সফলতা ছিল না।
এই যুদ্ধ আমেরিকার জন্য সামরিক শিক্ষা। এই ভুল থেকে শিক্ষা নিয়ে যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের উচিত অযৌক্তিক সামরিক হস্তক্ষেপ, আগ্রাসন বন্ধ করা।
"ফুল'স এরান্ড" বইটি আফগান যুদ্ধের ইতিহাস পাশাপাশি ইতিহাসের শিক্ষাও বলা যায়। চাপিয়ে দেয়া অপ্রয়োজনীয় যুদ্ধ শুধু ধ্বংস আর অরাজকতাই সৃষ্টি করে।
রাজনীতি, ইতিহাস, আন্তর্জাতিক রাজনীতি, যুদ্ধবিরোধী আন্দোলন, ভূরাজনীতি সম্পর্কে আগ্রহী পাঠকদের জন্য এটা চমৎকার একটা বই।
August 17, 2021
I started Fool’s Errand a year ago and picked it back up with the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. The author’s insight is sharp and has been validated over the past week with the fall of the Afghan government. Fool’s Errand is a thoroughly researched and well cited critique of the war in Afghanistan. The author has done his homework and addresses virtually all potential counter arguments while building a factual, urgent, and timely thesis: End the War.
This thesis is accomplished in part through arguments I admittedly was not expecting when I began, yet they resonate with me as they should for anyone. Scott humanizes our opponents where appropriate, and depicts our country’s faults and arrogance where deserved. Through first hand accounts, Scott does his utmost to put us in the shoes of Afghans, Taliban, even Al Qaeda at times making the case that they are humans reacting to foreign forces. He supports this claim through our own soldiers’ worst behaviors. He does this not to debase our military men and women but to demonstrate the impossibility of the situation we have placed them in addition to the impossible expectation that Afghans on the other side of the world would welcome us with open arms and accept our misinformed goals for their lives and our violent methods. In short, violence creates resistance whether you’re a 1776 revolutionary, a Seal Team 6 member maiming a prisoner in response to a comrade’s death, or a young Afghan Taliban member who lost his family to a US drone strike.
Scott is a libertarian and his beliefs in the utter dysfunction of the State show up very occasionally as a logical justification for not trusting intervention. However these moments are very brief and do not take away from the vast majority of the arguments in the book. Despite their own preconceived political beliefs, readers will lament with Scott as he recounts cited statistics of lost soldiers, displaced refugees, and the destruction of an entire country and will be drawn emotionally and logically to agree with his thesis.
Although the withdrawal from the War in Afghanistan is seemingly complete, Fool’s Errand remains a timelessly thorough history of our nation’s longest foreign war and a reminder that foreign intervention and regime change is a pointless endeavor and an evil we must discontinue and leave in our past.
This thesis is accomplished in part through arguments I admittedly was not expecting when I began, yet they resonate with me as they should for anyone. Scott humanizes our opponents where appropriate, and depicts our country’s faults and arrogance where deserved. Through first hand accounts, Scott does his utmost to put us in the shoes of Afghans, Taliban, even Al Qaeda at times making the case that they are humans reacting to foreign forces. He supports this claim through our own soldiers’ worst behaviors. He does this not to debase our military men and women but to demonstrate the impossibility of the situation we have placed them in addition to the impossible expectation that Afghans on the other side of the world would welcome us with open arms and accept our misinformed goals for their lives and our violent methods. In short, violence creates resistance whether you’re a 1776 revolutionary, a Seal Team 6 member maiming a prisoner in response to a comrade’s death, or a young Afghan Taliban member who lost his family to a US drone strike.
Scott is a libertarian and his beliefs in the utter dysfunction of the State show up very occasionally as a logical justification for not trusting intervention. However these moments are very brief and do not take away from the vast majority of the arguments in the book. Despite their own preconceived political beliefs, readers will lament with Scott as he recounts cited statistics of lost soldiers, displaced refugees, and the destruction of an entire country and will be drawn emotionally and logically to agree with his thesis.
Although the withdrawal from the War in Afghanistan is seemingly complete, Fool’s Errand remains a timelessly thorough history of our nation’s longest foreign war and a reminder that foreign intervention and regime change is a pointless endeavor and an evil we must discontinue and leave in our past.
May 13, 2018
This is the most painfully eye-opening, well researched work (zillions of end notes) I've ever read related to our involvement in Afghanistan. The Taliban was not harboring bin Laden, and offered to hand him over to U.S. authorities after 9/11. The U.S. easily could have captured bin Laden, even without help from the Taliban, by the end of 2001. The continued resistance to the American military in Afghanistan has little or nothing to do with the Taliban, but is a reaction to the U.S. presence and its repeated abuse and killing of Afghani civilians. We prop up Afghani rulers who are corrupt, who are heroin growers and distributors, and who are often more oppressive and awful to the Afghani people than the Taliban ever was. We've already spent more on Afghanistan than we spent on the entire Marshall Plan (to rebuild post-World War II Europe) and there's not only no end in sight to our operations there, but the consensus among our leaders is that we will always be there. We don't have any clear objectives in Afghanistan, and our involvement in the country has actually weakened our relations with our allies on its borders (Pakistan and India). We're spending a massive chunk of our federal budget paying for a war which kills us, kills them, and cannot possibly be won (whatever winning the war in Afghanistan means).
Horton does a masterful job of laying this out without showing any political bias for any party nor for any particular political standpoint other than the wastefulness of it all--that we've spent over fifteen years, billions of dollars, and countless lives with the only result being further instability in the country and increased resentment of the U.S. (meaning increased resistance to the American presence and higher risks of terrorist attacks against Americans).
This is one of those books which should be required reading for everyone.
P.S. Nobody hates our freedom. They hate us taking away theirs.
Horton does a masterful job of laying this out without showing any political bias for any party nor for any particular political standpoint other than the wastefulness of it all--that we've spent over fifteen years, billions of dollars, and countless lives with the only result being further instability in the country and increased resentment of the U.S. (meaning increased resistance to the American presence and higher risks of terrorist attacks against Americans).
This is one of those books which should be required reading for everyone.
P.S. Nobody hates our freedom. They hate us taking away theirs.
January 15, 2020
This is maybe the most disturbing book I've ever read. Ignorance is bliss and I've been woefully ignorant about the war in Afghanistan over the past 17 years. I don't love a lot of how American is seen by people in other countries but this is the first time that I have truly felt ashamed for my country. What a disaster. Using Star Wars as an analogy, America in this instance is the empire and I don't feel that's even hyperbole. I would invite everyone to read this.
December 30, 2020
Fool's Errand is incredibly thorough and well-sourced. Everything you will ever need to know about U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan, plus a little more is contained in this book. If you are not red-pilled about the evils of U.S. intervention in the middle east, you will be after reading this book.
February 8, 2020
This is, hands down, the most informed and fair-minded book on the Global War on Terror (GWOT) that I've read. It covers much more than the on-going war in Afghanistan, although it does focus on that. Read it...and then hope and pray that US leaders, both civilian and military, take it to heart.
July 5, 2021
Scott Horton, author of Fool's Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan, begins the last section of the book thus: "The occupation of Afghanistan is not just America's longest foreign war. It may also have the distinction of being both the least supported and least opposed war in our history." Nineteen years on, it is a zombie conflict with its think tank and military supporters coming up with little rhyme or reason to be there other than to be there.
The people may not be following all that closely, but there is a constituency doing well, the suppliers of the war material are passionately supporting our sojourn over there.
Horton's Fool's Errand could be assigned as the text of a college survey course on our involvement even before the events of 911. The book is exhaustively documented and foot noted. Mr. Horton is director of the Libertarian Institute as well as editorial director of Antiwar.com. He hosts Antiwar Radio Pacifica, 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles, California, and also a podcast, the Scott Horton Show from Scott Horton.org.
As he is associated with Antiwar.com, it would not be difficult to observe that he probably looks at our Afghan involvement with a critical eye, if the title, Fool's Errand did not give it away.
Full disclosure, your reviewer has contributed content to Antiwar.com and has a slight acquaintance with Mr. Horton.
It is not easy to make sense of the long engagement in Afghanistan, maybe because it can't make sense. A cliché analogy would be it is a hall of mirrors and that is as good as any. We have lurched from one bad decision to another.
It goes without saying that the events of 911 did not just happen out of the blue. George Bush's comment about hating our freedom does not hold up, as a read of Scott's book would demonstrate. The lack of reason is accentuated when the rationale that we have to "Fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" is used. Even when an attack happens in the "homeland” (e.g. the Boston Marathon Bombing) the answer does not change.
So, what did cause certain denizens of the Islamic east to carry out the attack on the Twin Towers and set off almost two decades of war?
Scott Horton cites University of Chicago professor Robert Pape who undertook a study of Islam to figure out the cause of suicide terrorism. He was shocked when he found out that it was not religion that led to the attacks, but reaction to foreign occupation.
People of other faiths would also resort to self-destruction as part of their resistance. Not so long ago, the Tamils, who are not Muslims, fought a long war of liberation against the Sri Lankan state and would use the tactic.
Pape and his grad students built a database "of every suicide attacker on earth since 1980." The findings; these are not losers who have given up on life. "The single most significant factor in determining whether someone would commit an act of suicide terrorism was the presence of foreign combat forces on the attacker’s territory."
It would have been a good idea to think about how Arabs and Muslims might react to our troops on Saudi soil or the first war against Iraq. Nah, just go with hate us for our freedom as motive.
Anyway, no matter the motive, the attack of 911 was, murder most foul. The United States had every reason to demand the extradition of the perpetrators and if refused, take military action to apprehend them.
But, as Scott writes, there was a fly in that ointment.
The Taliban were, and one must assume, still are, serious about their religion. They were, however, not in love with al Qaeda. Three months before 911, Mullah Omar gave an interview to a western journalist in which he expressed his displeasure with bin Laden.
Granted, the Taliban refused to just hand over their guest, but they knew the man was a hot potato and they needed at least a fig leaf of accommodation to drop him. They offered to turn bin Laden over to a third country. We wanted him and that was that.
Were the Taliban just stalling? Horton looks at the words of Milton Bearden who had been the CIA station chief running the covert war in the 1980s, "We never heard what they were trying to say. We had no common language. Ours was, 'Give up bin Laden.' They were saying, 'Do something to help us give him up'..."
That the Taliban was trying to dance away from bin Laden never made the news at the time. Even if they were being cute, it is undeniable that the Bush administration would settle for nothing but absolute compliance.
We could not take yes for an answer.
Horton goes into much detail, but suffice it to say in the words of Lincoln, "and the war came."
Even after the war started and, supposedly, finished, elements of the Taliban were trying to come to terms with the new regime and were rebuffed. It should not have been a surprise when later on they would go back to war.
We were "nation building," but it did not seem to be going well. Our lack of popularity among those we were uplifting was noted by journalist Chris Sands. The insurgency may not have been an honorable enterprise, but Sands observed, "when civilians are killed by the Taliban in Kandahar, locals still blame the [U.S.-supported] government instead of the Taliban, who are "rarely the subject of the people's fury" in such circumstances."
The project seemed to be meandering such that Karzai, the president, was referred to as the Mayor of Kabul as the writ of the government did not seem to exceed the boundary of the capital.
What to do? How about a surge, i.e. more troops?
This one would be different from the Iraq endeavor. It would be baked in a think tank oven by "COINdistas." COIN refers to Counter Insurgency warfare and it had its stars.
There were old neocon retreads as a supporting cast, but new faces were not wanting such as the Aussie COIN theorist, David Kilcullen. General James Mattis, who would later become known for a role in the Trump administration, wrote the Counterinsurgency Field Manual, but the guy who really made his brand, such as it is, was General David Petraeus.
Petraeus was the man with a plan. He and his confreres "promised Obama that with the plan they could have the Taliban sitting at the table, ready to concede to American terms within 18 months–by July 2011."
That that did not happen was hardly an impediment to Petraeus. He always claimed his escalation was working, with constant gains, albeit "fragile" and "reversible," which means not actual gains.
No matter that the resistance continued to grow, Dave's rep grew as well, until he and his amanuensis and mistress, Paula Broadwell, were caught sharing classified material. He was slapped on the wrist with a misdemeanor conviction that might have been a felony for someone else. Petraeus has not slunk away in disgrace, but is doing well. You've heard of the term, "empty suit." This guy was an empty uniform.
What is the point of it all? Maybe there are riches beneath the soil, but the U.S., and certainly its people will not profit from them. The Afghans will continue to extract wealth from the land in the form of opium, but your average Afghani will not become rich.
The Greek historian Herodotus related how the Spartan king, Pausanias, after the battle of Platea, contrasted the luxury of the captured Persian king's table as set for dinner and his own poor "spartan" supper. Pausanias commented that the Persians had "come to rob us of our poverty."
Taliban members must think us that stupid.
The people may not be following all that closely, but there is a constituency doing well, the suppliers of the war material are passionately supporting our sojourn over there.
Horton's Fool's Errand could be assigned as the text of a college survey course on our involvement even before the events of 911. The book is exhaustively documented and foot noted. Mr. Horton is director of the Libertarian Institute as well as editorial director of Antiwar.com. He hosts Antiwar Radio Pacifica, 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles, California, and also a podcast, the Scott Horton Show from Scott Horton.org.
As he is associated with Antiwar.com, it would not be difficult to observe that he probably looks at our Afghan involvement with a critical eye, if the title, Fool's Errand did not give it away.
Full disclosure, your reviewer has contributed content to Antiwar.com and has a slight acquaintance with Mr. Horton.
It is not easy to make sense of the long engagement in Afghanistan, maybe because it can't make sense. A cliché analogy would be it is a hall of mirrors and that is as good as any. We have lurched from one bad decision to another.
It goes without saying that the events of 911 did not just happen out of the blue. George Bush's comment about hating our freedom does not hold up, as a read of Scott's book would demonstrate. The lack of reason is accentuated when the rationale that we have to "Fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" is used. Even when an attack happens in the "homeland” (e.g. the Boston Marathon Bombing) the answer does not change.
So, what did cause certain denizens of the Islamic east to carry out the attack on the Twin Towers and set off almost two decades of war?
Scott Horton cites University of Chicago professor Robert Pape who undertook a study of Islam to figure out the cause of suicide terrorism. He was shocked when he found out that it was not religion that led to the attacks, but reaction to foreign occupation.
People of other faiths would also resort to self-destruction as part of their resistance. Not so long ago, the Tamils, who are not Muslims, fought a long war of liberation against the Sri Lankan state and would use the tactic.
Pape and his grad students built a database "of every suicide attacker on earth since 1980." The findings; these are not losers who have given up on life. "The single most significant factor in determining whether someone would commit an act of suicide terrorism was the presence of foreign combat forces on the attacker’s territory."
It would have been a good idea to think about how Arabs and Muslims might react to our troops on Saudi soil or the first war against Iraq. Nah, just go with hate us for our freedom as motive.
Anyway, no matter the motive, the attack of 911 was, murder most foul. The United States had every reason to demand the extradition of the perpetrators and if refused, take military action to apprehend them.
But, as Scott writes, there was a fly in that ointment.
The Taliban were, and one must assume, still are, serious about their religion. They were, however, not in love with al Qaeda. Three months before 911, Mullah Omar gave an interview to a western journalist in which he expressed his displeasure with bin Laden.
Granted, the Taliban refused to just hand over their guest, but they knew the man was a hot potato and they needed at least a fig leaf of accommodation to drop him. They offered to turn bin Laden over to a third country. We wanted him and that was that.
Were the Taliban just stalling? Horton looks at the words of Milton Bearden who had been the CIA station chief running the covert war in the 1980s, "We never heard what they were trying to say. We had no common language. Ours was, 'Give up bin Laden.' They were saying, 'Do something to help us give him up'..."
That the Taliban was trying to dance away from bin Laden never made the news at the time. Even if they were being cute, it is undeniable that the Bush administration would settle for nothing but absolute compliance.
We could not take yes for an answer.
Horton goes into much detail, but suffice it to say in the words of Lincoln, "and the war came."
Even after the war started and, supposedly, finished, elements of the Taliban were trying to come to terms with the new regime and were rebuffed. It should not have been a surprise when later on they would go back to war.
We were "nation building," but it did not seem to be going well. Our lack of popularity among those we were uplifting was noted by journalist Chris Sands. The insurgency may not have been an honorable enterprise, but Sands observed, "when civilians are killed by the Taliban in Kandahar, locals still blame the [U.S.-supported] government instead of the Taliban, who are "rarely the subject of the people's fury" in such circumstances."
The project seemed to be meandering such that Karzai, the president, was referred to as the Mayor of Kabul as the writ of the government did not seem to exceed the boundary of the capital.
What to do? How about a surge, i.e. more troops?
This one would be different from the Iraq endeavor. It would be baked in a think tank oven by "COINdistas." COIN refers to Counter Insurgency warfare and it had its stars.
There were old neocon retreads as a supporting cast, but new faces were not wanting such as the Aussie COIN theorist, David Kilcullen. General James Mattis, who would later become known for a role in the Trump administration, wrote the Counterinsurgency Field Manual, but the guy who really made his brand, such as it is, was General David Petraeus.
Petraeus was the man with a plan. He and his confreres "promised Obama that with the plan they could have the Taliban sitting at the table, ready to concede to American terms within 18 months–by July 2011."
That that did not happen was hardly an impediment to Petraeus. He always claimed his escalation was working, with constant gains, albeit "fragile" and "reversible," which means not actual gains.
No matter that the resistance continued to grow, Dave's rep grew as well, until he and his amanuensis and mistress, Paula Broadwell, were caught sharing classified material. He was slapped on the wrist with a misdemeanor conviction that might have been a felony for someone else. Petraeus has not slunk away in disgrace, but is doing well. You've heard of the term, "empty suit." This guy was an empty uniform.
What is the point of it all? Maybe there are riches beneath the soil, but the U.S., and certainly its people will not profit from them. The Afghans will continue to extract wealth from the land in the form of opium, but your average Afghani will not become rich.
The Greek historian Herodotus related how the Spartan king, Pausanias, after the battle of Platea, contrasted the luxury of the captured Persian king's table as set for dinner and his own poor "spartan" supper. Pausanias commented that the Persians had "come to rob us of our poverty."
Taliban members must think us that stupid.
April 1, 2018
Truly unbelievable. Horton packs so many (well cited) facts into his anti-war nonfiction it makes one’s head spin. It is not a nonfiction book written like a flowery novel, but his arrangement, perspicuous prose, content, and insight all make for a page turner. While I continued to read and was flabbergasted I’d text my friend who served four tours in the Middle East to corroborate the details. He confirmed everything and it sent my thoughts spiraling. I believe Horton knew he painted a complicated picture for the average reader so he included five separate appendices. These aid the reader in understanding and referencing military terminology/initialisms and the cast of people mentioned throughout along with supplying additional selected readings on American torture, Afghanistan itself and a few highly detailed maps of the region.
I recommend this to anyone wanting to better understand our 16+ year quagmire in the Middle East. Anti-war advocates should read it as much as pro-war hawks. Everyone between and across the world would appreciate this as well, if a translation is possible. 5/5 stars
I recommend this to anyone wanting to better understand our 16+ year quagmire in the Middle East. Anti-war advocates should read it as much as pro-war hawks. Everyone between and across the world would appreciate this as well, if a translation is possible. 5/5 stars
January 3, 2019
Smashes any notion that our interventions in the Middle East were anything but destructive and murderous failures. Scrupulously researched, Scott hammers home the idea that nation-building, culture-moulding are exercises in futility -- and end up making matters far worse. I'm reminded of the age old socialist response, when presented with the horrible record of socialism, that "we haven't done socialism right. But the *next* time, things will be different." Scott also exposes the disturbing degree to which concern over political perception and face-saving considerations figure into decision making - decision making that caused massive death and destruction.
December 13, 2017
If you want to understand the US involvement in Afghanistan from A-Z, this is your book. Scott Horton ruthlessly critiques our involvement in the country from day 1. Did you know that the Taliban offered to give up Bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda members prior to the US invasion? Or that the warlords that the US allies with against the Taliban have a tendency to rape young boys? Scott thoroughly documents these and all of the other lies and sacred cows the establishment tells us about Afghanistan.
January 19, 2019
This book delivers exactly what you want from a book with a title like this: a comprehensive account of the mindset and "political drama" that caused, and was caused by, the war in Afghanistan. Without getting way to emotionally heavy, you can't read this and not be heartbroken for what's happening.
This is a must-read if you want to understand what's happening with the terrorism craze.
This is a must-read if you want to understand what's happening with the terrorism craze.
December 10, 2017
I can't imagine a better book for learning about the War in Afghanistan. In addition to that, it tells about the U.S. role in the Middle East for the last four or five decades and the best analysis on why 9/11 happened. Great book.
July 3, 2018
Writing in clear straightforward language Horton presents a compelling case against the war in Afghanistan but also informs us as to why every administration since George W. Bush up to and including Trump has prolonged it with no end in sight.
August 19, 2018
Scott Horton has created a small but explosive masterpiece, packed with more bare-bones fact and incisive analysis in its slim spine than in the competing tons of mainstream gobbledegook. Horton strips away the pretenses of three administrations in disinforming (lying) their way into Mideast quagmires. Afghanistan is America's longest and most expensive war running, set to endure for the following generation, simply to keep the military-industrial-contractor system employed. In that next generation, when we're faced with decimated public services, no Social Security or Medicare, and a Third World infrastructure, you'll be able to proudly point to the the pummeled people of the Pamirs and the mission heroes kept flying high at your own life's expense.
They have never learned from Vietnam: no empire will admit it's at rope's end until this slips from its grasp, crashing on its remnants. Scott Horton is pleading - not to those in power, another fool's errand - but to us, to wake up and put an end to the nonsense because those who rule are too vested and cowardly to do so. No doubt Horton chose the title from Albion Tourgee's novel of the same name, as an analogy to the hopelessness of Federal Reconstruction in the American South. Unless the US is prepared to admit it has created a colony, an Occupied Territory on the Israeli model, it's in for a hard and bloody show for no purpose.
Horton writes from a Libertarian perspective which might surprise Liberals and Leftists. With so many of the latter co-opted by the Democratic machine, it takes an outsider's freshness and honesty to speak the unwelcome truth.
They have never learned from Vietnam: no empire will admit it's at rope's end until this slips from its grasp, crashing on its remnants. Scott Horton is pleading - not to those in power, another fool's errand - but to us, to wake up and put an end to the nonsense because those who rule are too vested and cowardly to do so. No doubt Horton chose the title from Albion Tourgee's novel of the same name, as an analogy to the hopelessness of Federal Reconstruction in the American South. Unless the US is prepared to admit it has created a colony, an Occupied Territory on the Israeli model, it's in for a hard and bloody show for no purpose.
Horton writes from a Libertarian perspective which might surprise Liberals and Leftists. With so many of the latter co-opted by the Democratic machine, it takes an outsider's freshness and honesty to speak the unwelcome truth.
March 11, 2023
This book is dense with information. Scott Horton knows his stuff, and he just throws facts and quotes at you, until yo feel beaten, disgraced and humble. I listened to the audio book version, and I had to rewind several times to make sure I understood things correctly. I even had to have on a lower speed than usual.
I thought myself to have a least some insight into the war of Afghanistan. At least as much as can be expected from someone not in the US, not in the military and that hasn't been down there. But my was I wrong. I knew nothing. Well, less than nothing, since Horton goes through the media coverage of the war, why the US is there and everything that happened. I didn't know anything and almost everything I knew was wrong.
I have not looked into his sources, but I do not doubt what he says for a second.
Just the fact that he often uses quotes from American politicians to get his point across, just makes the whole war seem so much dumber.
Did you also believe that the Taliban was a great threat? Well, then this book is for you.
Did you believe that the US was in Afghanistan to fight Al Quaida? Well, boy are you in for a suprise.
Did you know what the Taliban wanted to give over the leaders of Al Quaida, like all of them, as long as the US did not invade? Or how the US didn't invade and go where Al Quaida was, but rather attacked Taliban instead, ignoring the terrorists?
Did you know that the Taliban wanted to give themselves up, but the US refused? That the US has imprisoned thousands of wrong people, tortured them and created a new uprising with people that felt they had no choice, because of that?
Did you know that Bin Laddens whole plan was to bring the US to Afghanistan and bleed them for resources, the same way Afghanistan destroyed the Soviet Army?
If not, then read this book. Read it twice, thrice. More.
This book crushes every illuison that has been created around how the war in Afghanistan is just. It crushes the story about how the US tried to bring peace, help small girls and the rest of the population. It crushes the very foundation of lies and misinformation that is out there about the whole war.
Glad the Us is finally out of there.
I thought myself to have a least some insight into the war of Afghanistan. At least as much as can be expected from someone not in the US, not in the military and that hasn't been down there. But my was I wrong. I knew nothing. Well, less than nothing, since Horton goes through the media coverage of the war, why the US is there and everything that happened. I didn't know anything and almost everything I knew was wrong.
I have not looked into his sources, but I do not doubt what he says for a second.
Just the fact that he often uses quotes from American politicians to get his point across, just makes the whole war seem so much dumber.
Did you also believe that the Taliban was a great threat? Well, then this book is for you.
Did you believe that the US was in Afghanistan to fight Al Quaida? Well, boy are you in for a suprise.
Did you know what the Taliban wanted to give over the leaders of Al Quaida, like all of them, as long as the US did not invade? Or how the US didn't invade and go where Al Quaida was, but rather attacked Taliban instead, ignoring the terrorists?
Did you know that the Taliban wanted to give themselves up, but the US refused? That the US has imprisoned thousands of wrong people, tortured them and created a new uprising with people that felt they had no choice, because of that?
Did you know that Bin Laddens whole plan was to bring the US to Afghanistan and bleed them for resources, the same way Afghanistan destroyed the Soviet Army?
If not, then read this book. Read it twice, thrice. More.
This book crushes every illuison that has been created around how the war in Afghanistan is just. It crushes the story about how the US tried to bring peace, help small girls and the rest of the population. It crushes the very foundation of lies and misinformation that is out there about the whole war.
Glad the Us is finally out of there.
July 4, 2018
It’s hard to know exactly, but one thing is clear: there’s no “win” condition in Afghanistan. Fool’s Errand excels at breaking down the different factions, and the deep history between them. It’s hard to conceive of an Afghanistan where Pashtun, Uzbek, Tajik, Taliban, the warlords, and whoever else all get along. It is clear that every American intervention has only served to make things worse in the long run. This is because military power is violence, and making a play on the chessboard means shedding blood. Afghanistan is a sponge which has soaked up the blood of multiple generations. It’s a sponge which the US has deliberately used time and again to “sweep up” in the region as they “let loose” their pawns in a part of the world to which few people pay attention.
Afghanistan is called the Graveyard of Empires. With the American Empire, we are seeing the premises of the national security state stretched to their limit. The war is, incredibly, the longest in US history. As Scott sometimes mentions, the babies born after the war began are now old enough to go fight in it. The Afghanistan war is a pretense which has failed. There’s no way to look at it and not ask, “What does national security even mean anyway?”
That’s why the media doesn’t ask.
https://www.amazon.com/Fools-Errand-T...
Afghanistan is called the Graveyard of Empires. With the American Empire, we are seeing the premises of the national security state stretched to their limit. The war is, incredibly, the longest in US history. As Scott sometimes mentions, the babies born after the war began are now old enough to go fight in it. The Afghanistan war is a pretense which has failed. There’s no way to look at it and not ask, “What does national security even mean anyway?”
That’s why the media doesn’t ask.
https://www.amazon.com/Fools-Errand-T...
May 24, 2019
Fantastic book. Conclusive and eye opening account of the American war in Afghanistan. Horton is unparalleled in terms of clear thinking analysis of foreign policy. His podcasts are excellent, and this book while less filled with righteous fury than his audio content, is just as informative and ultimately devastating.
You must read this. It doesn't matter if you're not an anarchist libertarian like Horton, and while this book was written to appeal to some conservative sympathies (he tries to stay away from hippie dippy peace and love antiwar tropes and instead sticks to cold hard truths about the enormous human and resource cost, and the injustice, and the foolishness, or this particular interventionist terror war), it is accessible to anybody and doesn't preach politics whatsoever.
It's thoroughly researched, and as valuable as the analysis itself are the extensive footnotes complete with URLs allowing the reader to follow up on anything and in turn discover solid foreign policy investigative reporters. On my first read through I just enjoyed the book, on my second and I looked into as many footnotes as I could and ended up with a wide breadth of knowledge about this terrible war.
You must read this. It doesn't matter if you're not an anarchist libertarian like Horton, and while this book was written to appeal to some conservative sympathies (he tries to stay away from hippie dippy peace and love antiwar tropes and instead sticks to cold hard truths about the enormous human and resource cost, and the injustice, and the foolishness, or this particular interventionist terror war), it is accessible to anybody and doesn't preach politics whatsoever.
It's thoroughly researched, and as valuable as the analysis itself are the extensive footnotes complete with URLs allowing the reader to follow up on anything and in turn discover solid foreign policy investigative reporters. On my first read through I just enjoyed the book, on my second and I looked into as many footnotes as I could and ended up with a wide breadth of knowledge about this terrible war.
January 10, 2022
My mother bought this book from Scott at the Midwest Peace and Liberty Fest in 2018. I just got arund to reading it and it did not disappoint.
The thing that gets me is I recognized the same problem in 2006 when I was in Afghanistan. We were rolling around with millions of dollars in equipment and pockets full of cash. We were well fed, violent, angry, and trained to kill. The people I saw in Afghanistan staring back at me were oppressed, dirt poor, and did not have two nickels to rub together.
We would drive past the bakery and there would be giant bags of American wheat, given to Afghanistan for free. The big wheat bags are probably the only thing we brought with us they needed and wanted. The rest of the mission was a giant boon doggle for the MIC. I left SF that year. My confidence in the US was shaken and it has never been restored. I saw a major waste of lives and money being kept alive so even more money could be siphoned off and useless lives wasted.
Now my friends have PTSD and the money they got in return is all spent. There are tens of thousands of dead Afghans and nothing good was accomplished. What a waste. George W. Bush sits at home painting. He should he sitting in a jail cell as a traveling display so people can throw tomatoes at him.
The thing that gets me is I recognized the same problem in 2006 when I was in Afghanistan. We were rolling around with millions of dollars in equipment and pockets full of cash. We were well fed, violent, angry, and trained to kill. The people I saw in Afghanistan staring back at me were oppressed, dirt poor, and did not have two nickels to rub together.
We would drive past the bakery and there would be giant bags of American wheat, given to Afghanistan for free. The big wheat bags are probably the only thing we brought with us they needed and wanted. The rest of the mission was a giant boon doggle for the MIC. I left SF that year. My confidence in the US was shaken and it has never been restored. I saw a major waste of lives and money being kept alive so even more money could be siphoned off and useless lives wasted.
Now my friends have PTSD and the money they got in return is all spent. There are tens of thousands of dead Afghans and nothing good was accomplished. What a waste. George W. Bush sits at home painting. He should he sitting in a jail cell as a traveling display so people can throw tomatoes at him.
February 24, 2021
Such a fantastic read. I listen to Scott Horton whenever I can. He's on many podcasts and has his own as well as a radio show. If you want to hear unbiased, fact-driven takes on American foreign policy, Scott is where to get it. I don't care if you're blue, red, or other, Horton nails US foreign policy on EVERYTHING. This guy should be serving in government.
In this book, Horton spells out what a catastrophe the war in Afghanistan is and has been throughout and why we stay there. Our military-industrial complex and surveillance state apparatus control too much in this country, including Congress. So many members of Congress are vested in the war machine and have no desire to get out. No matter what we do, we make things worse over there.
Whether arming our next enemies or giving a boost to heroin production, we have made the world worse by setting foot over there. We certainly aren't still there to make the world safe for democracy or help install a democratic government for the Afghan people. Such a crime.
In this book, Horton spells out what a catastrophe the war in Afghanistan is and has been throughout and why we stay there. Our military-industrial complex and surveillance state apparatus control too much in this country, including Congress. So many members of Congress are vested in the war machine and have no desire to get out. No matter what we do, we make things worse over there.
Whether arming our next enemies or giving a boost to heroin production, we have made the world worse by setting foot over there. We certainly aren't still there to make the world safe for democracy or help install a democratic government for the Afghan people. Such a crime.
July 17, 2018
Frankly, most of the time, I hated reading this. But we, as Americans, need to know what the government has done in our name. Expect to be horrified. The truth here is ugly. But it's a truth that you need to hear. (This also applies to non-Americans, I think--unfortunately, a lot of what is done by our government spills out to the rest of the world with devastating effects, and they often convince or bully other governments to go along with them.) Despite the fact that it was really difficult at times to get through it, I am satisfied that I will never be deceived by another rushed, trumped-up call to war, having read what was behind this one. I really believe that if America truly knew what was going on there, it wouldn't be red-state/blue-state/whatever division, just a united call to get out and not do it again. One can dream. And if everyone read this book, we would be a long ways down the path to that dream.
December 24, 2018
Amazing recap of the longest and most pointless war in American history. To quote The Princess Bride, the US has fallen victim to one of the classic blunders! Never get involved in a land war in Asia. Less than 20 years after the US intentionally and successfully lured the Soviet Union into "its Vietnam" in Afghanistan by arming and funding mujahideen insurgents, the Bush administration apparently forgot the lesson and decided to try to turn the Graveyard of Empires into Cleveland, Ohio. It hasn't gone well.
Can't recommend this book highly enough. Even if you ultimately disagree with some of the author's conclusions, you have no choice but to respect the research he put into this. There are over 100 pages of endnotes and appendices to bolster his arguments, and overall reading this book will give you a more educated worldview than that offered by the "they hate us for our freedoms" type analysis you get on cable news.
Can't recommend this book highly enough. Even if you ultimately disagree with some of the author's conclusions, you have no choice but to respect the research he put into this. There are over 100 pages of endnotes and appendices to bolster his arguments, and overall reading this book will give you a more educated worldview than that offered by the "they hate us for our freedoms" type analysis you get on cable news.
September 26, 2021
I agree with the politics 1000% percent, but I have a problem with the book's writing/editing. I think there are two directions it should've gone: first is that because of the large scope of the subject matter, the chapters should breathe more by allowing more context/explanations. As is, it reads like a Wikipedia page with the footnotes on almost every sentence. It should take more time to explain/expand upon the footnotes, which is after all someone else's words, which could allow it to flow more like a journalistic narrative. I would've been okay with a book twice as long that covered more ground in a writing style that flowed well. Second is that it seems there wasn't much of an editor at work here, which could have also solved the aforementioned problems. The heavy hand of an editor could have enhanced Horton's massive levels of research of better organize the sub-chapters, which never felt unifying and are oftentimes repeating points from other sub-chapters.
December 2, 2019
Having not read a single book about Afghanistan, but being a big longtime fan of Antiwar radio - I bought this.
It starts off great. I really enjoyed the re-hash of how stupid, pointless and cruel the War in Afghanistan has been. My piss boiled throughout the torture section. Also, seeing the names of the folks spelled out (instead of just verbalized on Antiwar radio) was nice.
But it's far from a perfect book. The footnotes are insane. Every page is littered with URLs at the bottom and oftentimes the footnotes take up half the page. I like the idea of having a quick thing to glance at, but come on.
Secondly, the book starts to feel like it's running out the clock towards the end. Having an up to the moment timeline of the Trump Afghanistan policy seems unnecessary and much of which has been superseded by subsequent actions.
Overall, good book.
It starts off great. I really enjoyed the re-hash of how stupid, pointless and cruel the War in Afghanistan has been. My piss boiled throughout the torture section. Also, seeing the names of the folks spelled out (instead of just verbalized on Antiwar radio) was nice.
But it's far from a perfect book. The footnotes are insane. Every page is littered with URLs at the bottom and oftentimes the footnotes take up half the page. I like the idea of having a quick thing to glance at, but come on.
Secondly, the book starts to feel like it's running out the clock towards the end. Having an up to the moment timeline of the Trump Afghanistan policy seems unnecessary and much of which has been superseded by subsequent actions.
Overall, good book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews