No Good Men Among the Living

America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes

by Anand Gopal

Hardcover, 320 pages

English language

Published by Metropolitan Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-8050-9179-3

(4 reviews)

Told through the lives of three Afghans, the stunning tale of how the United States had triumph in sight in Afghanistan―and then brought the Taliban back from the dead

In a breathtaking chronicle, acclaimed journalist Anand Gopal traces in vivid detail the lives of three Afghans caught in America's war on terror. He follows a Taliban commander, who rises from scrawny teenager to leading insurgent; a US-backed warlord, who uses the American military to gain personal wealth and power; and a village housewife trapped between the two sides, who discovers the devastating cost of neutrality.

Told through the lives of three Afghans, the stunning tale of how the United States had triumph in sight in Afghanistan―and then brought the Taliban back from the dead

Through their dramatic stories, Gopal shows that the Afghan war, so often regarded as a hopeless quagmire, could in fact have gone very differently. Top Taliban leaders actually tried to surrender within months of the US invasion, renouncing all political activity and submitting to the new government. Effectively, the Taliban ceased to exist―yet the Americans were unwilling to accept such a turnaround. Instead, driven by false intelligence from their allies and an unyielding mandate to fight terrorism, American forces continued to press the conflict, resurrecting the insurgency that persists to this day. With its intimate accounts of life in war-torn Afghanistan, Gopal's thoroughly original reporting lays bare the workings of America's longest war and the truth behind its prolonged agony. A heartbreaking story of mistakes and misdeeds, No Good Men Among the Living challenges our usual perceptions of the Afghan conflict, its victims, and its supposed winners.

1 edition

Jonathan Arnold reviewed No Good Men Among the Living by Anand Gopal

Review of 'No Good Men Among the Living' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Anand tells the story of the disastrous Afghanistan "war" thru the eyes of the people who are living it. Going from the beginning of the war (and some eye opening descriptions from before it), until 2013, it is a really hard to process view of the short sightedness of the whole effort. In fact, it is so incredibly bungled I find it nearly impossible to believe the stories of incompetence and idiocy of the occupying forces. His claim is that the Taliban was pretty much out of Afghanistan just months after the first invasion in 2001 and from then on, the battles were just imaginary.

The war lords we backed would just pick out their enemies, claim they were Taliban, and watch the American forces crash up against them. We would randomly grab, or allow to be grabbed, forces against the currently backed warlords, ransom them off, and then just grab them a few weeks later. Their only crime being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Gopal's thesis seems to be if we had just left after the first couple months, things would not have been so bad.

Ironically enough, the book ends with the threat (promise?) of a complete American withdrawal by Obama - in 2013! Imagine if we had just left then instead of wasting another nearly 10 years, with no definable ending and mostly just making things worse. It is virtually indescribable how screwed up the whole situation was. It has nothing to do with Afghanistan being the "graveyard of empires", just greed and corruption run rampant.

I have no idea what we could have done differently, but it could hardly have worked out worse. What a screwed up thing we did and we, as Americans, need to face up to it and promise to never let it happen again.

Ikwezi reviewed No Good Men Among the Living by Anand Gopal

Review of 'No Good Men Among the Living' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

A depressing but important read. I was really impressed with the depth of detail he was able to deliver, and the range of experiences of the three interview subjects he used to construct the narrative drove home how blunt and ineffective American military power can be in places with such history (or anywhere, really, when the goals are reconstruction and political development). I supported the US going into Afghanistan in 2002 and very little of what came after that (including Obama's surge), and this book makes clear the self-deluding nature of such opinions.

vincekd

rated it

Feb. 14, 2016

Melissa

rated it

Jan. 15, 2020