Graeme Smith (2) (1979–)

If you want to have a better understanding of the war in Afghanistan, this book will be a good start. Smith went to Afghanistan several times traveling out into the countryside to interview the farmers, poppy growers, former warlords, Taliban fighters and Taliban leaders. In the cities of the Kabul and Kandahar, he talked to government leaders, military leaders, shop keepers, civic leaders and regular soldiers. He traveled with the Canadian troops on patrols. He was so close to the action at times, that he heard the sonic clap of bullets as they whizzed by his head and got his boots dirtied by mangled body parts resulting from suicide bombing or artillery rounds.
After spending time in the country over a period of years extending from 2003 to 2013, he feels the war is really a family feud not unlike the family squabble depicted in the TV program, The Sopranos. Many Taliban fighters told him that if foreign troops left the country, they would stop fighting. They just want a Muslim government that would be free of Western influences.
He also confirmed what I read in other sources that air strikes were driving men to join the insurgents because they had lost family and friends to those strikes which often target innocent people. He also feels that destroying poppy fields alienated Afghan farmers because that is one crop they can grow successfully and find a ready market for.

This is a book that should make you very angry because of all the mistakes the Western countries have made there. If don't agree with Smith, at least he will make you think about what we have done there. He does include the views of military, political and civilian leaders who are much more optimistic about the future of Afghanistan.

The title refers to what sometimes happens to the insurgents' bodies when they are not buried immediately after a fire fight.… (mehr)