Afghan Lessons
Afghan Lessons
Culture, Diplomacy and Counterinsurgency
₹625.50 ₹695.00 Save: ₹69.50 (10%)
Go to cartISBN: 9788130930206
Bind: Hardbound
Year: 2015
Pages: 192
Size: 152 x 228 mm
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Published in India by: Viva Books
Exclusive Distributors: Viva Books
Sales Territory: India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
Highlights from Afghan Lessons
"This is a book about different worlds, different realities. The reality of everyday life in an unreal world. People that need to be looked after, jobs that need to be done, a country that needs to be restored, all from within the necessary confines of an armed camp. And this in the middle of another reality, which we do not understand, full of things forgotten under decades of war. The keys to this reality lie in the past, perhaps lost."
—from the Foreword by Robert Cooper
"To tempt me to explore their country, the Afghans kept repeating that there were three different Afghanistans: The first is the one you Westerners imagine; another coincides with the city of Kabul; the third is the country of remote provinces, far away from the cities, and of the three, this is the only real Afghanistan."
"There can be no development without security and no security without development.? ... Everyone said it over and over again, both the civilians and the military, but depending on whether it was said by the former or the latter, the emphasis was placed on the first or second part of the slogan. In all honesty this seemingly obvious concept concealed two contrasting ways of seeing things."
Description:
Fernando Gentilini served nearly two years as the civilian representative of NATO in Afghanistan, running a counterinsurgency campaign in the war-tom nation. Afghan Lessons is the fascinating story of his mission, a firsthand view of Afghanistan through a kaleidoscope. He explores Afghan history, literature, tradition, and culture to understand some of the most basic questions of Western involvement: What is the purpose? What does an international presence mean, and how can it help?
Contents:
Chapter 1: How I Ended Up in Afghanistan, February-July 2008
Chapter 2: Signals, 1968, 1979, 2001, 2007
Chapter 3: Dubai, Terminal 2, July 13, 2008
Chapter 4: Kabul
Chapter 5: A Small Travel Library, I
Chapter 6: The First Steps
Chapter 7: "What? They’ve Surrounded Kabul?"
Chapter 8: Winning
Chapter 9: The Neo-Taliban
Chapter 10: A Word of Advice from a Princess
Chapter 11: "The Insubstantial State"
Chapter 12: Arg
Chapter 13: Civilian Casualties, I
Chapter 14: What There Was, What There Should Have Been
Chapter 15: To Coordinate—or to Be Coordinated
Chapter 16: A Small Travel Library, II
Chapter 17: ISAF
Chapter 18: Khyber, 1842, 1878, 1919, 1928
Chapter 19: Indian Holiday
Chapter 20: Snow
Chapter 21: Clear, Hold, and Build
Chapter 22: Civilian Casualties, II
Chapter 23: Obama and Af-Pak, March 29, 2009
Chapter 24: Awkward Neighbors
Chapter 25: A Small Travel Library, III
Chapter 26: A Dream
Chapter 27: Karzai
Chapter 28: Bird's-Eye Views
Chapter 29: Kandahar
Chapter 30: COIN—The Counterinsurgency Manual
Chapter 31: Civilian Casualties, III
Chapter 32: Shia Family Law
Chapter 33: Women
Chapter 34: A Small Travel Library
Chapter 35: Death in August
Chapter 36: The Presidential Elections
Chapter 37: A Way to Reconciliation
Chapter 38: The Future of Af-Pak
Chapter 39: Leaving Kabul, February 2010
Epilogue
Bibliography
About the Author:
Fernando Gentilini is an Italian diplomat with twenty years of experience in European and multilateral affairs. He currently works in Brussels for the European External Action Service. Afghan Lessons was published in Italy as Libero a Kabul (Editori Internazionali Riuniti, 2011). Robert Cooper is a British diplomat who served at the top of EU foreign policy institutions. He is also the author of numerous essays, articles, and publications on foreign policy, including The Breaking of Nations: Order and Chaos in the Twenty-First Century (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003).
