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Reviews
No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes by Anand Gopal
lilylikesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Really solid read and I learned a lot. It felt a bit repetitive by the end, and I definitely think he, uh, how to put it gently? Could’ve been slightly less sympathetic to the Taliban
ckincade's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.25
bugle's review against another edition
dark
informative
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, War, Violence, Murder, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Genocide, Suicide, and Police brutality
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Pedophilia
imalahakhund's review against another edition
4.0
I think there are better reviews of the book available on goodreads which come from a better understanding of the war but this is review from someone who doesn't know alot but is interested in making sense of stuff and getting to the truth.
When the American Troops were withdrawing from Afghanistan and Taliban were capturing at such a fast pace, seeing the amount of doctored news, whitewashing of war on terror, call for women's right drenched in white-saviourism and biased and selective reporting on Afghanistan, got me really interested in understanding what was really happening and what was really happening and what did the common Afghan people really want. To my surprise they weren't many narratives by Afghan people (the only other one I found that might be unbiased and honest was Raising My Voice by Malalai Joya, another on my list) and those by Western journalists where either drenched in white-saviourism or blaming Islam with the typical stereotypes of titles like "lifting the veil" and such. I happen to came across this title on twitter tweeted by a few Afghan Journalists and decided to give it a try.
Wikipedia Intro of the author: Anand Gopal is notable for his reporting in Afghanistan and the Middle East. He is believed to be one of the few Western journalists to have embedded with the Taliban. His book was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction, the 2014 National Book Award and the 2015 Helen Bernstein Award. It was awarded the 2015 Ridenhour Prize for demonstrating "why the United States' emphasis on counterterrorism at the expense of nation-building and reconciliation inadvertently led to the Taliban's resurgence after 2001.
The title is an Pashtoon expression, "There are no good men among the living, and no bad ones among the dead" which basically means there are no heros and villians. The author, Anand Gopal, briefly tells the story of Afghanistan from the Communist Government, the Soviet Occupation, the Mujahideen Movement, Soviet Withdrawal to The Civil War, The Rise of Taliban, the 2001 American Invasion and the days of the War On Teror as it was seen through Afghan eyes. There are many stories of Afghans in and out throughout the book but it mostly centers around three Afghans; Mullah Cable (a Talib or US's enemy), Jan Muhammad (former Mujaahid and US led miltiaman), and Heela Achekzai (a civilian woman).
After the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan by American Forces, most Al-Qaeda members fled to tribal regions of Pakistan and Iran, and most Taliban, except for a little few, also surrendered their weapons, retiring to their homes, shifted their loyalties and pledged allegiance to the new government some even encouraging other members to do the same. So the Taliban movement had basically died. American Forces with a mandate to fight terrorism and virtually no enemies, created alliances with local Warlords like Jan Muhammed, a former Mujaahid and a friend of Hamid Karzai, who used this US allyship to their advantage, furthering their interests, settled personal disputes and seeking power and hold falsely accused their enemies, former Taliban and sometimes innocent civilians and even people who were Anti-Taliban, Pro-Government and allied with the US as Taliban. American forces targetted these people conducting Raids, detained them under Counter-terrorism and subjected them to torture, sent them to Guantanamo Bay, Bagram or killed them. American Forces, even when they were aware about these things turned a blind eye, sometimes even awarding the soldiers and army staff involved with medals with next to zero compensation to those who lost their family members. All of this eventually led to Taliban Resurgency after the movement had previously died.
Mullah Cable, a talib who joined (Hizb e Islami), the Taliban movement initially during the civil war seeking protection when some of his close families members got killed during the civil war, left the moment and escaped to Pakistan after the 2001 invasion started to live a civilian life but ended up rejoining it after his struggles with making ends meet and his brush up with the corrupt warlords.
Heela Achekzai, a teacher, forced to give up her urban lifestyle during the civil war moves to the rural countryside to be a housewife, trains to be a nurse/midwife under Taliban and runs a secretive vocational centure for women under the Warlords allied by American Forces, and later gets widowed when the warlords kill her husband. She eventually ends being a senator in the city of Khas Uruzgun.
The narrative in the book is non-linear and attempts to humanize the war and different categories of people involved in the war. I think the book did a really good job bringing the Afghan perspective to the table!
When the American Troops were withdrawing from Afghanistan and Taliban were capturing at such a fast pace, seeing the amount of doctored news, whitewashing of war on terror, call for women's right drenched in white-saviourism and biased and selective reporting on Afghanistan, got me really interested in understanding what was really happening and what was really happening and what did the common Afghan people really want. To my surprise they weren't many narratives by Afghan people (the only other one I found that might be unbiased and honest was Raising My Voice by Malalai Joya, another on my list) and those by Western journalists where either drenched in white-saviourism or blaming Islam with the typical stereotypes of titles like "lifting the veil" and such. I happen to came across this title on twitter tweeted by a few Afghan Journalists and decided to give it a try.
Wikipedia Intro of the author: Anand Gopal is notable for his reporting in Afghanistan and the Middle East. He is believed to be one of the few Western journalists to have embedded with the Taliban. His book was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction, the 2014 National Book Award and the 2015 Helen Bernstein Award. It was awarded the 2015 Ridenhour Prize for demonstrating "why the United States' emphasis on counterterrorism at the expense of nation-building and reconciliation inadvertently led to the Taliban's resurgence after 2001.
The title is an Pashtoon expression, "There are no good men among the living, and no bad ones among the dead" which basically means there are no heros and villians. The author, Anand Gopal, briefly tells the story of Afghanistan from the Communist Government, the Soviet Occupation, the Mujahideen Movement, Soviet Withdrawal to The Civil War, The Rise of Taliban, the 2001 American Invasion and the days of the War On Teror as it was seen through Afghan eyes. There are many stories of Afghans in and out throughout the book but it mostly centers around three Afghans; Mullah Cable (a Talib or US's enemy), Jan Muhammad (former Mujaahid and US led miltiaman), and Heela Achekzai (a civilian woman).
After the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan by American Forces, most Al-Qaeda members fled to tribal regions of Pakistan and Iran, and most Taliban, except for a little few, also surrendered their weapons, retiring to their homes, shifted their loyalties and pledged allegiance to the new government some even encouraging other members to do the same. So the Taliban movement had basically died. American Forces with a mandate to fight terrorism and virtually no enemies, created alliances with local Warlords like Jan Muhammed, a former Mujaahid and a friend of Hamid Karzai, who used this US allyship to their advantage, furthering their interests, settled personal disputes and seeking power and hold falsely accused their enemies, former Taliban and sometimes innocent civilians and even people who were Anti-Taliban, Pro-Government and allied with the US as Taliban. American forces targetted these people conducting Raids, detained them under Counter-terrorism and subjected them to torture, sent them to Guantanamo Bay, Bagram or killed them. American Forces, even when they were aware about these things turned a blind eye, sometimes even awarding the soldiers and army staff involved with medals with next to zero compensation to those who lost their family members. All of this eventually led to Taliban Resurgency after the movement had previously died.
Mullah Cable, a talib who joined (Hizb e Islami), the Taliban movement initially during the civil war seeking protection when some of his close families members got killed during the civil war, left the moment and escaped to Pakistan after the 2001 invasion started to live a civilian life but ended up rejoining it after his struggles with making ends meet and his brush up with the corrupt warlords.
Heela Achekzai, a teacher, forced to give up her urban lifestyle during the civil war moves to the rural countryside to be a housewife, trains to be a nurse/midwife under Taliban and runs a secretive vocational centure for women under the Warlords allied by American Forces, and later gets widowed when the warlords kill her husband. She eventually ends being a senator in the city of Khas Uruzgun.
The narrative in the book is non-linear and attempts to humanize the war and different categories of people involved in the war. I think the book did a really good job bringing the Afghan perspective to the table!
thisotherbookaccount's review against another edition
5.0
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America had been at war in the #MiddleEast for more than half my life. So when the war officially came to an end, with men trucking into #Afghanistan’s capital carrying Kalashnikovs, desperate mothers handing their infant children to US soldiers across barbed wires and refugees clinging onto departing airplanes, I couldn’t help but ask: what was that all for?
#NoGoodMenAmongtheLiving follows the lives of three Afghans — Akbar Gul, a Taliban commander; Jan Muhammad Khan, a US-allied militia leader; and Heela Achekzai, a civilian woman — each with a perspective on the war.
What comes across is that allegiance and morality, like the shifting sands in a desert, are relative concepts. There are no ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys’ in war. Yes, the Taliban regime was brutal and oppressive, but America spent US$2.3 trillion to prop up a corrupt Afghan government and powerful warlords, all while committing atrocities of their own. Innocent Afghans were tortured/imprisoned, villages were razed and murders were committed based on bad intelligence. Gopal makes it clear that there were no plans, no exit strategies and no path to victory at all.
Afghanistan is an abyss, and America tried to fill the hole with money, which only fattened the coffers of corrupted officials and warlords, and with bombs, which only made the hole larger and deeper. Twenty years is enough time for every pair of hands to touch blood. What I love about this book is how Gopal, without condoning their actions, expertly explains why different factions did the things they did, how the conflicts began and how it descended into a hell pit filled with blood, sand and dirty money.
My only complaint is that this book was published in 2014, and a lot has changed. We now know the true conclusion to the story: America lost, the Taliban won, the warlords are rich and everyday Afghans will be paying the price for decades to come.
America had been at war in the #MiddleEast for more than half my life. So when the war officially came to an end, with men trucking into #Afghanistan’s capital carrying Kalashnikovs, desperate mothers handing their infant children to US soldiers across barbed wires and refugees clinging onto departing airplanes, I couldn’t help but ask: what was that all for?
#NoGoodMenAmongtheLiving follows the lives of three Afghans — Akbar Gul, a Taliban commander; Jan Muhammad Khan, a US-allied militia leader; and Heela Achekzai, a civilian woman — each with a perspective on the war.
What comes across is that allegiance and morality, like the shifting sands in a desert, are relative concepts. There are no ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys’ in war. Yes, the Taliban regime was brutal and oppressive, but America spent US$2.3 trillion to prop up a corrupt Afghan government and powerful warlords, all while committing atrocities of their own. Innocent Afghans were tortured/imprisoned, villages were razed and murders were committed based on bad intelligence. Gopal makes it clear that there were no plans, no exit strategies and no path to victory at all.
Afghanistan is an abyss, and America tried to fill the hole with money, which only fattened the coffers of corrupted officials and warlords, and with bombs, which only made the hole larger and deeper. Twenty years is enough time for every pair of hands to touch blood. What I love about this book is how Gopal, without condoning their actions, expertly explains why different factions did the things they did, how the conflicts began and how it descended into a hell pit filled with blood, sand and dirty money.
My only complaint is that this book was published in 2014, and a lot has changed. We now know the true conclusion to the story: America lost, the Taliban won, the warlords are rich and everyday Afghans will be paying the price for decades to come.