Review ‘As a personal account of this sad, twisted story, Lamb's book is unlikely to be surpassed; gracious and humane, she always gives a fair hearing, while her observation is always needle sharp. It is one of the most rewarding and thought-provoking books by any journalist of my acquaintance’ Evening Standard‘This is a journey through more than a decade of hell and futility, written vividly, with emotion but mercifully shorn of polemic … in this most captivating of war journals’ Observer‘A spellbinding synthesis of analysis and highly personal reportage … Lamb's grasp of the back story enables her to weave illuminating historical context into the narrative’ Independent‘She records with a clear eye and a longer perspective her successive encounters with the Afghans and their occupiers …she writes with sympathy and understanding … For anyone who wants to understand how Britain's road to Helmand was paved with well-meant but ill-founded intentions this magisterial memoir is the book to read and enjoy’ The Times‘A brave and exceptional book … if you had to recommend one book on Afghanistan then ‘Farewell Kabul’ should be it" Daily Telegraph‘Lamb's account is an ambitious mix of analysis and anecdote’ James Rubin, Sunday Times‘Authoritative, wide-ranging and thoroughly readable, Lamb's knowledge and understanding of the region and its central players are impressively profound … Highly recommended’ Literary Review‘A very good book … that sits with distinction in a growing library about where we – both Afghans and the international community – went wrong … Lamb has a forensic understanding of how things work and why they don’t. ‘Farewell Kabul’ is an impassioned, at moments anguished, love letter to Afghanistan’ New Statesman‘Supremely well-informed but passionate reporting from a courageous journalist with more than two decades experience on the front line’ Evening Standard, Books of the Year Synopsis The definitive book on Afghanistan, 'Not a Shot Fired' by award-winning journalist, Christina Lamb, is the gripping account of how the West's politicians forgot about this troubled region, the root of the War on Terror, when pursuing their goals in Iraq. The failure of the West in Afghanistan is unquestionably devastating and despite efforts to eliminate the Taliban from the country, their presence has continued to grow. Insurgent attacks have also increased, and the region still struggles against poverty, an unstable infrastructure and a huge number of land mines. Initially billed as the West's success story by both Bush and Blair, and a reconstruction mission that would go ahead, according to then Home Secretary John Reid, "without a shot being fired", Afghanistan remains, largely, a lawless, violent land. Most of the promises made to its people in 2001 have not been fulfilled. Award-winning journalist Christina Lamb understands Afghanistan like nobody else.Reporting on the region since the age of 21, she has fought with the mujahadeen dressed as an Afghan boy, experienced a near-fatal ambush and head-on encounter with Taliban forces and successfully established links with American, British, Afghan government, Taliban and tribal fighters.Her unparalleled access to troops and civilians on the ground, as well as to top military officials has ensured that 'Not a Shot Fired' is the definitive book on the region, exposing the realities of Afghanistan unlike anyone before. In the same vein as Robert Fisk's 'The Great War of Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East' and Bob Woodwards 'Plan of Attack', 'Not a Shot Fired' is compelling, moving and impossible to put down. See all Product description
J**N
A brilliant analysis
Christina Lamb offers a brilliant, if thoroughly depressing, analysis of the West's involvement in Afghanistan in the years following the 9/11 bombings in 2001. Farewell Kabul is certainly a grim read yet it is beautifully written as Lamb carefully explains all that has gone wrong. There are several recurrent themes in the book, including the total lack of understanding of tribal politics; fighting an unwinnable war against the Taliban; naïvety about Pakistan's complicity in the insurgency; a basic absence of strategic direction, and the unresolved confusion and contradictions about the objectives of the mission itself. The sad truth is, as Lamb puts it, "the more troops we sent, the worse we made the situation."Christina Lamb is a courageous Sunday Times foreign correspondent who risks abduction (and worse) several times in this book. Yet she writes with genuine passion about Afghanistan and, when she leaves the country, she says that she feels a "deep and anguished" yearning for it. Based on her long experience of living in Afghanistan and Pakistan and her close acquaintance with many of the key characters in this story, she is well placed to provide an exceptionally well informed, balanced and incisive analysis of policy failure in Afghanistan.
P**N
The reason we are in such deep trouble in Afghanistan and Iraq is all here - a brilliant analysis
A thoughtful and insightful analysis of Afghanistan and Pakistan and the cycle of distrust. Christina Lamb is a war correspondent with great street credit and here she outlines her experiences and her analysis of the current crisis laying this firmly at the door of Pakistan and its fluid approach to truth. You can argue the analysis but this is a good book and one you start you really cant put it down - outstanding
R**J
Excellent read if you are interested in knowing why the war in Afghanistan failed.
Very interesting. Really good read. Gives a very good insight into how Afghanistan really works and how the west went to war without understanding the Afghan mind/psyche. Its shocking to see Pakistan's role in the whole affair and to see how the west has wasted so much money that was sent for good causes and ended up being usurped by corrupt warlords or officials or politicians. A must read for people interested in that region. There are so many interesting things on each page that I ended up highlighting almost half the book on my kindle.
M**N
Great book to read
Great book to read. One of the books that i couldnt put down. Nice simple writing. Not too much overwhelming facts. Have nice simplified complex issues especially when describing the background and providing information of various groups involved.Maybe needed some pictures to tally the story as going along. Found the photos of random people that where not going well with the actual book.Has a deep knowledge of what is going on in the region.... If you want to read and enjoy without falling asleep buy this one ....you wont regret it..... Well done !!!
P**D
Never ending (his)story...
In a way, some aspects this wonderful book reminds me of "The ugly American" by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer, I have read almost 40 years ago.The ignorance and the lack of understanding of the local dimensions, customs and culture by people living and taking decisions thousands of miles away in another world, ruled by PowerPoint, are bound to lead to massive failures, one day.9/11, Madrid, London, Paris, Brussels, the killed and maimed soldiers from any side are all rooted in the tragic story of this captivating book.Hopefully it will be read and its overall message perhaps understood by army chiefs and politicians the world over. One can only hope......
S**F
A page-turner !
A brilliant piece of writing, full of Christina Lamb's personal experience and knowledge of the region, and based on the evidence of many witnesses. It's a page turner and essential reading for anyone interested in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the western involvement in the area, but what a tragic story ; an object lesson in the perils of policy-making with little or no attention to the history and culture of Afghanistan.
E**S
A brilliant recent history of Afghnaistan laced with great humanity.
Christina Lamb's exceptional book runs through nearly 30 years of her journalistic dealings with Pakistan and Afghanistan. Her detailed analysis, supported by personal interactions with all the most important characters including Presidents, diplomats, soldiers, terrorists and spies, makes for depressing reading. But, throughout this account of the mess that punctuated three decades of cold war fighting and western interference is the author's deep love for the region and its tough, but seemingly doomed people. Anyone wanting to try and make any sense of the British deployment in Afghanistan and its ultimate failure should read this book. Things are rarely what they seem - or more accurately how they were portrayed by the British government and its military leaders. The history of British engagement in that country is littered with gravestones and, yet, we embarked on a new war ignoring the warnings of the past. And, lurking always in the background, the malignant Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, that created and trained the Afghan jihadis in the 1980s who fought the Russians and who ultimately in the 1990s then became Taliban and Al Qaeda. Then, astonishingly, after 9/11 they continued to direct the same militants fighting the US coalition with aid money from the USA. No one comes out clean in this account of the great game played out in one of the poorest nations in the world.
M**Y
Anyone who is considering sending more troops to Afghanistan, ...
Anyone who is considering sending more troops to Afghanistan, or more aid money to Pakistan, should read this first hand, very well researched and written, account of the politics of this notoriously unstable region.
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