No Good Men Among the Living
America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes
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Average rating4.6
"As U.S. troops prepare to withdraw, the shocking tale of how the American military had triumph in sight in Afghanistan--and then brought the Taliban back from the dead. In the popular imagination, Afghanistan is often regarded as the site of intractable conflict, the American war against the Taliban a perpetually hopeless quagmire. But as Anand Gopal demonstrates in this stunning chronicle, top Taliban leaders were in fact ready to surrender within months of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, renouncing all political activity and submitting to the new government. Effectively, the Taliban ceased to exist--yet the American forces were not ready to accept such a turnaround. Driven by false intelligence from corrupt warlords and by a misguided conviction that Taliban members could never change sides, the U.S. instead continued to press the conflict, resurrecting the insurgency that persists to this day. Gopal's dramatic narrative, full of vivid personal detail, follows three Afghans through years of U.S. missteps: a Taliban commander, a U.S.-backed warlord, and a housewife trapped in the middle of the fighting."--
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30 released booksAmerican Empire Project
American Empire Project is a 30-book series with 30 released primary works first released in 2003 with contributions by Noam Chomsky, Michael T. Klare, and Walden Bello.
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Really interesting story of the common person's experiences in post-American war in Afghanistan. What happened? Why did it happen? What could America and NATO have done differently? Is this a war that was destined for failure?
This book follows three different Afghans, starting in the months following the American invasion: a housewife, a Taliban commander and a regional strong-man. The journalist (Anand Gopal) chronicles their stories (heart-breaking in their own ways). One thing I will say is that I never thought I would ever be sympathetic to the Taliban character, but there were even parts where I was rooting for him; not against the Americans, mind you, but against opposing Taliban commanders.
The story got a little bit jumpy as it transitioned from one person to the next. In one instance the author was detailing the story of one character in 2008 and then transitioned to another person's story in 2005.
Other than that, I thought the author did an excellent job of describing the environment and America's general ignorance (on a military and public level) of the consequences of our actions there. Anyone who is at all interested in South Asia or the war in Afghanistan would be benefitted by reading this. I have done a fair bit of reading on the topic and even I was surprised by a number of the author's revelations, assuming they are true.
