The Long Way Back
Afghanistan's Quest for Peace
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2.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Christopher Alexander was sent to Afghanistan in 2003, charged with supporting the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, part of the global response to 9/11. Primarily covering the years 2001 to 2011, The Long Way Back tells the story of the historic achievements and bitter disappointments encountered on the road to political stability in Afghanistan.
But this is much more than a first-hand account of recent events: it is a clear-eyed take on what has been achieved, the triumphs and failings of Afghans and foreigners alike, and why the country is still mired in conflict. Alexander guides us through the intricacies of the cross-border insurgency—showing that Pakistan continues the campaign begun under the British frontier policy and scaled up by the U.S. for jihad against the Soviets. With Alexander’s direct access to and experience with the country’s leaders, the international players and ordinary Afghan citizens, a unique portrait of Afghanistan is revealed and an argument is made for what it will take for the country to achieve a lasting peace.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Alexander, a former ambassador and U.N. deputy who served in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2009, delivers a remarkably thoughtful portrait of the ravaged country, chronicling its search for political stability in the years after the American invasion. He begins by tracing Afghanistan's epic history to show how its current troubles reflect its tumultuous past. He describes the country's initial euphoria at the rapid fall of the Taliban regime and Hamid Karzai's inauguration, the period of its neglect when the world's attention focused on the Iraq War, and the resurgence of the Taliban and the myriad other problems plaguing the country's fragile stability. These include drug warlords, a "culture of payback and vengeance," corrupt or incompetent government officials, Karzai's growing distrust of foreign intervention, and most importantly, Pakistan's duplicity in subsidizing al-Qaeda and other anti-Western mujahideen at the risk of its own security. Highlighting positive developments government ministers who are true reformers, clerics providing a bulwark against extremists, Kabul reclaiming its mercantile history, a new road system, and a reviving economy he urges other countries, such as the U.S. and his native Canada, not to give up advocating higher troop levels and drone attacks against sanctuaries in Pakistan. Evoking Afghanistan's history, culture, architecture, peoples, and pastimes, he provides an insightful, firsthand look at a chaotic country.
