No Good Men Among the Living

April 21, 2014
A haunting ethnography of Afghanistan after the American invasion, journalist Gopal's nonfiction debut tells the stories of three individuals to create a picture of the situation in Afghanistan. Gopal spent hundreds of hours interviewing a Taliban commander, a member of the U.S.-backed Afghan government, and a village housewife. He presents a stirring critique of American forces who commanded overwhelming firepower, but lacked the situational knowledge to achieve their objectives. Men with the ear of American commanders often took advantage of their credulity to destroy their enemies, making little effort to determine their affiliations. Gopal writes of one hapless bus driver, who spent nearly five years in Guantanamo and was prohibited from presenting evidence that he was not a member of the Taliban, because there was "no accusation against " that suggested this affiliation. Heela, the housewife, has the most remarkable story of the three: in closing pages of the book she becomes a senator, unaware until winning that she was even in the running. Gopal reveals the fragility of the tenuous connection between intention and destiny in a war-torn land.

April 1, 2014
A fellow at the New American Foundation looks at the policies, actions and failures of the United States in Afghanistan. Beginning in 2008, Gopal, correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor, spent four years traveling throughout Afghanistan. Bearded, dressed as a native and speaking like one, he heard stories from fighters, tribal elders, young boys and government officials that challenged his ideas about the war and how we fought it. The author argues that the United States sees the world in black and white--friend versus enemy, good versus evil, etc.--a simplistic view that fails to encompass the complexities of Afghanistan. He presents his analysis of Afghanistan through three individuals: Mullah Cable, a Taliban commander; Jan Muhammad, a member of the U.S.-backed Afghan government; and Heela, a village housewife. His portraits of these three and their tumultuous lives are rich in detail, as are his descriptions of their stark and war-ravaged land. Gopal puts the present Afghanistan in perspective by describing the civil war that followed the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989, the emergence in 1994 of the Taliban, who disbanded warring militias and imposed a regime of harsh Islamic law, and the regrouping of the militias in 1996 as the Northern Alliance, which continued to fight the Taliban for the next five years. After 9/11, when the U.S. failed to make a deal with the Taliban to turn over terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, the attacks by American forces began. The chaos that followed has seen power struggles and shifting alliances; attempts to bring stability and root out corruption have failed. American contracts with local power brokers have created a new class of warlords whose militias are known as private security companies. What will happen, Gopal wonders, when the Americans leave and the money dries up? A grim picture of a complicated and troubling situation.

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May 1, 2014

The war in Afghanistan and the involvement of the United States in it has been the subject of numerous publications in recent years. Much of the narrative of the American government's policy in Afghanistan has been couched in the context of the "War on Terror." In this original and stimulating book, journalist and New America Foundation Fellow Gopal, who has covered the Afghan War and other international crises for the Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor, focuses on the narratives of three Afghans (a Taliban commander, a U.S.-supported warlord, and a village housewife) to describe blunders and failures of U.S. policy in the Middle East. The author clearly demonstrates that within months of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan the top Taliban leaders were ready to surrender to American authorities; submit to the new Afghan government; and eschew further political and military activities. However, for a variety of reasons, chief among them false intelligence from corrupt Afghan warlords, the United States did not take this unique opportunity to end the Taliban insurgency in that country. Thus, what Gopal considers to be Washington's missteps allowed the Taliban to resurrect and strengthen itself, as the insurgency continues to destabilize Afghanistan. VERDICT Policymakers and informed readers will benefit immensely from this illuminating book.--Nader Entessar, Univ. of South Alabama, Mobile

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