No Good Men Among the Living

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.