A reader deploying to Afghanistan asks that I
re-post the Afghan primer I carried back in December, when this blog was brand
new, and no one read it. The primer was a note I'd written to a Marine
intelligence officer I know who was heading to southern Afghanistan.
Here you go:
Not only are you living in interesting times, you got
yourself an interesting job for those times.
Here are a few preliminary thoughts:
- Best books on the last couple of decades in Afghanistan:
Steve Coll's Ghost Wars and Ahmed Rashid's Taliban. (I haven't read
Rashid's more recent Descent into Chaos, but he is a very good journalist, so
it is probably worthwhile.)
- Best books on the Soviet experience in Afghanistan:
Grau's The Bear Went Over the Mountain and The Other Side of the
Mountain -- the latter is muj tactics during that war.
- Best overall introduction to Afghanistan: Louis Dupree's
'Afghanistan' (more an encyclopedia than a narrative, but well worth your time
for someone in your position -- everything from geography to poetry).
Two fun reads:
- Peter Hopkirk's 'The Great Game' (about the British vs.
the Russians in the 18th and 19th centuries)
- James Michener's 'Caravans' (no joke--considering that
mission you are taking!) -- and as I recall quite a lot of it takes place in the
area where you will be.
Here is some other stuff you may find helpful:
- naval postgraduate school website on Afghanistan--everything from where poppies grow to an 'introduction to
afghanistan':
http://www.nps.edu/Programs/CCS/
- Another good website on afghanistan -- guys reads and
posts a lot of relevant academic work (how tribes in afghanistan work, where
power resides, etc), and also tracks military bloggers he thinks know
something: http://easterncampaign.wordpress.com/
- Naval postgraduate school electronic publication
‘strategic insights,' good for commentary on Iraq, Afghanistan, terrorism,
counterinsurgency -- but is definitely strategic, not tactical: http://www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/archiveDate.asp
AFGHANISTAN: A Country Study By library of congress: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/aftoc.html
Also,
here is the 101st
Airborne reading list for Afghanistan I carried in October. And here is their
lessons learned about getting ready to deploy.
US ARMY/flickr
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