No Worse Enemy (38 page)

If I were Afghan, especially in Helmand, I certainly wouldn’t be picking sides. Certainly not if the American Marines or British soldiers who were asking me to are replaced every six
months, and will be gone altogether within two to three years. If someone built me a school or repaired my mosque, I would undoubtedly smile, shake their hand, maybe even make them a cup of tea or
pose for a photograph. But this would be simple pragmatism. It would not mean I offered them my loyalty, much less that I had rejected the Taliban. The nature and detail of this pragmatism is
entirely lost on idealistic foreign commanders.

The relationships that exist almost always exist because they have been paid for, which leads to yet another
even if
. Even if somewhere is cleared, held, built on and transferred to the
Afghan security forces, what happens next? Currently ninety-seven per cent of Afghanistan’s GDP comes from foreign aid and military spending, according to the World Bank. If the Afghan
government is unable or unwilling to provide for its citizens when they are receiving such largesse, imagine what it will be like when the foreign money dries up. Until then, there is little
incentive for the Afghan government to perform, or even behave, if that will hasten the foreigners’ departure and stop the gravy train.

In the years to come, I dread to think what I might read in tiny, two-paragraph stories buried in the middle pages of my newspaper. I fear that as long as we have a few secure and isolated bases
from which to strike Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and (mostly) Pakistan – I suspect that this is the only policy to which we are still committed – the Afghans will be left to suffer.

Three years after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, the Communist government fell to the Mujahadeen. They went on to fight each other, reducing much of Kabul to dust and killing an estimated
twenty-five thousand people. As dreadful as it sounds, as things now stand, that could be a better outcome than we have any right to hope for. For western policy-makers, desperate to avoid
humiliation, a repeat of the Soviet defeat looks desirable, but unlikely. In huge swathes of the country, the government will not stand for twenty-four hours, much less three years, without foreign
support. Every Afghan I have spoken to is convinced there will be another round of civil war as soon as we leave, with no rules of engagement or courageous restraint. They also think that the
Taliban may well win. Perhaps the most damning indictment of our intervention is that there are also many Afghans who will think that if there is such a victory, the good guys will have won.

September 2011

I turned regularly to four books for inspiration while writing this one: Jason Elliot’s
An Unexpected Light
is not only one of the most beautifully-written books
I’ve ever read, it also offers an essential portrait of the Afghanistan we never hear about. Jon Lee Anderson’s
The Lion’s Grave
is such a pleasure to read that it’s
easy to forget how informative it is. David Finkel’s
The Good Soldiers
and Evan Wright’s
Generation Kill
are set in Iraq but are both brilliant chronicles of modern
warfare. When I was in need of a boost, a small amount of time with one of these books got me straight back in front of my laptop. George Orwell’s
Homage to Catalonia
had the same
effect.

For a meticulous account of recent western intervention in Afghanistan before 9/11, Steve Coll’s
Ghost Wars
is essential reading, as are Lawrence Wright’s
The Looming
Tower
(a history of Al-Qaeda) and Peter Hopkirk’s
The Great Game
(Britain and Russia in Afghanistan from the nineteenth century). These three heavyweights are such masterpieces
that I doubt they will ever be surpassed. For comprehensive accounts of the Taliban, I recommend Ahmed Rashid’s
Taliban,
Antonio Giustozzi’s
Koran, Kalashnikov and Laptop
and
Decoding the New Taliban
(as editor), and Abdul Salam Zaeef’s
My Life with the Taliban.
Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn’s
An Enemy We Created
and
Giles Dorronsoro’s
Revolution Unending
are also essential
.
We have no excuse not to have known better. For forensic insider accounts of western policy since 9/11, I commend
Ahmed Rashid’s
Descent into Chaos
, Sherard Cowper-Coles’s
Cables from Kabul
and Bob Woodward’s
Obama’s Wars
. To understand how counter-insurgency is
supposed to work, I recommend David Kilcullen’s
An Accidental Guerilla
. Finally, Kate Brooks’s
In the Light of Darkness: A Photographer’s Journey after 9/11
,
contains pictures that say more than all these words combined.

For the ultimate reading list go to http://www.foreignpolicy.com­/­articles­/­2009­/­09­/­08­/­the­_­ultimate­_­afghan­_­reading­_­list­,­ where you can also subscribe to the excellent
AfPak Daily Brief
.

I would never have set foot in Afghanistan if it weren’t for the support of several broadcasters. I’d like to thank Karen O’Connor, Paul Woolwich, Sandy
Smith, Danny Cohen, Kevin Sutcliffe, Nancy Abraham, Sheila Nevins, Shane Smith, Suroosh Alvi, Spike Jonze, Tom Giles, and Daniel Pearl.

Rupert Chetwynd, Goran Tomasevic, Abe Sipe, and Bill Pelletier all helped me far more than I ever expected. Ismael Sadaat has not only been a brilliant translator, but also a trusted guide.
Melissa Pimental stuck with me, even when yet another book on Afghanistan looked like an impossible sell. Mike Harpley and Oneworld decided to back me, even though the market was overcrowded. As
copy-editor, Ann Grand gave this book a polish that I could never have managed on my own. My writing was often ugly before she scrubbed it up.

I would especially like to thank the following people, who offered me access to what they were doing long before they had any idea what I would do with it. The British, American, and Afghan
fighters didn’t volunteer to enter the Big Brother house, but, with very few exceptions, never stopped me filming or made me feel that there was a question I couldn’t ask. In particular
I’d like to thank Martin David, Jack Mizon, Carew Hatherley, Richard Westley, Simon Butt, Christian Cabaniss, Ryan Sparks, Mark Greenlief, Tim Coderre, Ben Willson, Wesley Hillis, and Matthew
Peterson. Lastly, I’d like to thank my Mum and Dad, who I know hated to hear that I was going back again, but never said it.