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Title: The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban
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Manufacturer: Penguin Press HC, The
List Price: $25.95
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| The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban by Penguin Press HC, The Fascinating insights | | Sarah Chayes, an NPR journalist and an historical scholar in her own right, provides an insider's look at Afghanistan before, during, and after the Taliban regime. Many provocative parallels can be drawn by the reader to the foreign policy problems facing the U.S. in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan today, for example: the primacy of tribal loyalties which supercede any national political identity, the misuse of American power to prop up questionable puppet governments, humanitarian aid which gets diverted by tribal elders to form their own militias, and the desperate economic instability which makes plundering and subsidy a way of life. In short, there appears to be an almost complete lack of cultural and anthropological understanding of the Middle East by U.S. policy makers. Whether you support or oppose the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, this treatise provides many fascinating insights into the Middle Eastern mind-set which could and should be applied by our government to the current conflicts. Highly recommended. | | The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban by Penguin Press HC, The Interesting but poorly written | | An utterly confusing account of the war in Afghanistan. Its merit is that it gives the reader a probably realistic impression of the complexity and intransparency of Afghan politics and history...nothing is what it seems. Its flaws are chronological disorder, personal grudges and reporter-centrism...("look at me getting the real dope against all odds" and "look at me, the only sensitive observer"). | | The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban by Penguin Press HC, The A gripping narrative of intrigue, assassination, personal dedication and courage | | Sarah Chayes' instinctive compassion builds friendships in Afghanistan that take her on a remarkable journey. Her insights illuminate the political currents affecting Afghanistan with exceptional clarity. This book is a must read for anyone seeking to understand the region. | | The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban by Penguin Press HC, The An interesting read | Despite the fact that the author doesn't 'beleive in the clash of civilizations' she hits the nail on the head with a number of observations. Foremost among them is the fact that international aid organizations, because of their hatred towards the U.S, blew the death of one of their own out of proportion so as to scare people away from Post-Taliban Afghanistan.
There is also much to learn here about how reporters craft stories and how they twist them. Although the author claims that reporters and journalists are the last line of defense of the free world, she shows how she herself crafted stories, showing wounded children for instance, to fit her narrative.
The telling of the ancient and modern history of Afghanistan, juztaposed with the authors own adventurers between 2001 and 2005 are fascinating. They shed light on tribal politics, on the destruction of minorities, and on the intricacies of this fascinating country. A very good piece of reporting and history and story-telling.
Seth J. Frantzman
| | The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban by Penguin Press HC, The Former NPR reporter discovers how the world works | In this book, Sarah Chayes travels to Afghanistan after 9/11 and stays there for several years. She begins as a reporter and ends up working in the non-government sector as a minor political player.
This book is written as her personal and professional journey in Afghanistan. She learns there that people are not what they seem. Different agencies of the US government and their allies work at cross purposes. Stupid bureaucratic rules lead to bad policy. Some people don't want to know the truth, or even worse, they know the truth but choose ignore its implications. Or they may even know the truth and want to cover it up.
My first reaction to all this was, "Duh." Anyone who studies foreign policy knows that this is how the world works; Chayes' own story simply provides details from a new place. My second, and more troubling reaction was, "Why is Chayes surprised by this?"
I was repeatedly stunned by her lack of knowledge and naivete. She studied Arabic in college, along with medieval Islamic history. She has a BA and MA from Harvard in these fields. Yet she apparently had no idea how tribal politics or patron-client political systems work. She's surprised that the US Army, US Special Forces, and US Agency for International Development might be supporting different players in Afghan politics. Heck, in Vietnam US forces supporting different players ended up shooting at each other. I'm sure the Soviets had similar experiences around the world.
Her great virtue, and I want to emphasize how impressive it is, is her courage. She is willing to put herself on the line. She returns to Afghanistan when she doesn't have to. She lives in residential areas, not in foreigner compounds. She leaves an attractive career at NPR to head an NGO in Afghanistan on a shoestring budget. She stays in place after receiving multiple death threats (and after investigating their credibility). She has a close friend, and many acquaintances, die. Her courage and her personal commitments as a liberal do-gooder shine through the book.
As a first-hand report of how Afghanistan works today, and how the foreigners in it live, this is an interesting book. However, it's written as a personal journey, which makes it two or three times longer than it need be - - we find out how Chayes learned things, not just what she learned. If you like these journeys, you'll like the book. I found those parts a bit tedious because of the naivete with which she began.
Some early chapters of the book also provide amusing anecdotes on how National Public Radio and other media outlets work. Apparently, they send reporters to foreign countries in order to write up stories consistent with the editors' preconceived notions. They are also supposed to write on the same subjects that other reporters have written on. Of course, we all know this, too, but it's nice to have the confirmation.
So, all in all, a mixed review. | | The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban by Penguin Press HC, The Product Description | A National Public Radio reporter covering the last stand of the Taliban in their home base of Kandahar in Afghanistan's southern borderland, Sarah Chayes became deeply immersed in the unfolding drama of the attempt to rebuild a broken nation at the crossroads of the world's destiny. Her NPR tour up in early 2002, she left reporting to help turn the country's fortunes, accepting a job running a nonprofit founded by President Hamid Karzai's brother. With remarkable access to leading players in the postwar government, Chayes witnessed a tragic story unfold-the perverse turn of events whereby the U.S. government and armed forces allowed and abetted the return to power of corrupt militia commanders to the country, as well as the reinfiltration of bands of Taliban forces supported by U.S. ally Pakistan. In this gripping and dramatic account of her four years on the ground, working with Afghanis in the battle to restore their country to order and establish democracy, Chayes opens Americans' eyes to the sobering realities of this vital front in the war on terror.
She forged unparalleled relationships with the Karzai family, tribal leaders, U.S. military and diplomatic brass, and such leading figures in the Kandahar government as the imposing and highly effective chief of police-an incorruptible supporter of the Karzai regime whose brutal assassination in June 2005 serves as the opening of the book. Chayes lived in an Afghan home, gaining rich insights into the country's culture and politics and researching the history of Afghanistan's legendary resistance to foreign interference. She takes us into meetings with Hamid Karzai and the corrupt Kandahar governor, Gul Agha Shirzai, into the homes of tribal elders and onto the U.S. military base. Unveiling the complexities and traumas of Afghanistan's postwar struggles, she reveals how the tribal strongmen who have regained power-after years of being displaced by the Taliban-have visited a renewed plague of corruption and violence on the Afghan people, under the complicit eyes of U.S. forces and officials.
The story Chayes tells is a powerful, disturbing revelation of misguided U.S. policy and of the deeply entrenched traditions of tribal warlordism that have ruled Afghanistan through the centuries. |
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