Afghanistan 2001–2014: The Enduring Literature?

Abstract

Do we have a problem with book publishers? Are we getting a reliable supply of material covering ongoing war in Afghanistan - this far-too-long, post-9/11 conflict? That there are lots of books is not in doubt - but do they help chart a course for future? Do they locate conflict in ways that assist in defining its uniqueness from, or its commonality with, other experiences of violence? How might available published work assist in post-2014 phase of Afghanistan's development and necessary engagement of international community-define that as you will-in that country's future? The best of them appeared around 2011: ten years too late for decision makers, result of a decade of reflection for rest of us.Let us step back a bit. The 1982 Falklands War generated a great deal of literature, but one among very best books about it was written to mark war's thirtieth anniversary. Ian Gardiner's The Yompers: With 45 Commando in Falklands War, despite its combat-style title, is a wonderful series of insights into nature of command, at every level: political context, experience of ordinary soldier, mental and emotional resilience, blue-on-blue casualties (to speak of just things one remembers without opening book again).1 What is interesting is that this book, had it been guided by some of more enthusiastic literary agents out there, might easily have been limited to resembling Andy McNab kind of account: big on sales, but limited in value.Contrast that to blurb for Sgt. David Bellavia's recounting of his war in Iraq, House to House: An Epic Memoir of War. Blood flows over my left hand and I lose my grip on his hair. His head snaps back against floor. In an instant, his fists are pummeling me. I rock from his counterblows. He lands one on my injured jaw and pain nearly blinds me. He connects with my nose, and blood and snot pour down my throat.2Military pornography, surely.3 That there is a market for this kind of thing is not in doubt. The problem is that it risks limiting lessons we learn from account, if any, to lowest tactical level and very little else. During Vietnam War, Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap had a global map for planning that reminded them of their vital links to Moscow and Beijing; President Lyndon Johnson pored over detailed tactical maps of Vietnam in making decisions about bombing transit routes, arms caches, and like. Too much recent Western literature on Afghanistan risks same narrowness.Perhaps that is why studies that emphasize importance of Afghan history are so often more rewarding than more contemporary accounts. This, it has to be said, carries dangers as well. A country that, seemingly, takes so much pride in being the graveyard of empires can be acknowledged as being fiercely aware of its past but tragically blind to much besides, including its own future. Three examples make point.The first is William Dalrymple's Return of King, a masterful account of British Empire's first, disastrous attempt at playing The Great Game, from 1839-1842.4 5 The then non-existent threat from Imperial Russia to British supremacy in India was goaded into existence by British actions - not last time that unintended consequences flowed from Great Power decisions. Dalrymple is brilliant in bringing to life mid-nineteenth-century personalities involved: Afghan and British leaders in all their splendor, weakness, courage, failures, and opportunism. Every page quietly resonates to subsequent events, without anything being said. The self-limiting ability of Afghan peoples to unite-despite desperate domestic differences-in face of external intrusion, is dramatically drawn. The short-term pride in defeating yet another would-be Alexander Great trumps all other considerations. One is left, frankly, astonished.The second is Edward Giradet's Killing Cranes: A Reporter's Journey Through Three Decades of War in Afghanistan 5 This is a rare piece of observational analysis, as suggested by subtitle, across most recent thirty years of Afghanistan's suffering. …