Carter Malkasian spent nearly two years in the
Afghan district of Garmser, in war torn Helmand province as a
political officer for the US Department of State. For the last
decade, he has studied war, and written about it, and worked in war
zones, including long stints in Iraq's Al Anbar province. The
author of Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare (named by Foreign
Affairs as one of the ten books to read on counterinsurgency) and A
History of Modern Wars of Attrition, he has also served as the
director of the stability and development program at the Center for
Naval Analyses. He has a Ph.D. in history from Oxford University.
"Malkasian evenhandedly examines the Garmser district in southern
Afghanistan, where he was stationed as a political officer for the
State Department between 2009 and 2011...deeply engaging work.
Insightful, knowledgeable account of the "good war," intimately
informed from the trenches." --Kirkus
"Malkasian is a fluent speaker of Pashto who spent two years as the
senior political officer in Garmsir and became immersed in the
area's history and intricate political structure. The book
represents the kind of detailed study of Afghanistan that has been
badly missing: Most people associated with the international
military and development missions here come in for six-month or
one-year stints. (Another valuable book, albeit with a vastly
different background and purpose, is Noah Coburn's excellent
ethnographic study, "Bazaar Politics.") One mark of Malkasian's
analytical mettle is that he presents, more so than any other
writer I've read, a clear and fair picture of the Taliban and why
they enjoyed so much support in the south." --Mattheiu Aikins, New
York Times
"In the nineteenth century Britain employed political officers on
the troubled frontiers of its empire. They immersed themselves in
their localities, learnt about the inhabitants and heard their
stories. Carter Malkasian is an American twenty-first century
political officer. Outwardly his deeply revealing book is about
Afghanistan's experience of war over three decades, but it is also
a mirror on the US itself. His message is clear: deep historical
and cultural understanding is at the heart of good strategy." --Hew
Strachan, Chichele Professor of the History of War, Oxford
University
"Whether as cause or as effect, there have been very few books
about America's longest war, and even fewer good ones. ... To this
short list can now be added another great book on the Afghan war,
Carter Malkasian's War Comes to Garmser." -- John A. Nagl, Senior
Fellow, Center for a New American Security.
"Afghan officials and U.S. commanders credit Malkasian with playing
a critical role in the transformation of Garmser from one of the
country's most violent, Taliban-infested districts to a place so
quiet that some Marines wish they had more chances to fire their
weapons." -- Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post (8/13/2011
profile of Malkasian)
"[Malkasian's] rich, shrewdly constructed history of the area shows
how tribal elders used the United States and the Taliban as
resources in their own turf battles, which often revolved around
access to irrigated land... Malkasian's gem of a concluding
chapter... is best appreciated after a close reading of the
preceding chapters. The effort will be amply repaid."--Foreign
Affairs
"A first-rate account of [Malkasian's] experiences in Afghanistan's
Helmand Province." - The Wall Street Journal
Silver Medal for the Council on Foreign Relations' 2014 Arthur Ross
Book Award
"Malkasian evenhandedly examines the Garmser district in southern
Afghanistan, where he was stationed as a political officer for the
State Department between 2009 and 2011...deeply engaging work.
Insightful, knowledgeable account of the "good war," intimately
informed from the trenches." --Kirkus
"Malkasian is a fluent speaker of Pashto who spent two years as the
senior political officer in Garmsir and became immersed in the
area's history and intricate political structure. The book
represents the kind of detailed study of Afghanistan that has been
badly missing: Most people associated with the international
military and development missions here come in for six-month or
one-year stints. (Another valuable book, albeit with a vastly
different background and purpose, is Noah Coburn's excellent
ethnographic study, "Bazaar Politics.") One mark of Malkasian's
analytical mettle is that he presents, more so than any other
writer I've read, a clear and fair picture of the Taliban and why
they enjoyed so much support in the south." --Mattheiu Aikins, New
York Times
"In the nineteenth century Britain employed political officers on
the troubled frontiers of its empire. They immersed themselves in
their localities, learnt about the inhabitants and heard their
stories. Carter Malkasian is an American twenty-first century
political officer. Outwardly his deeply revealing book is about
Afghanistan's experience of war over three decades, but it is also
a mirror on the US itself. His message is clear: deep historical
and cultural understanding is at the heart of good strategy." --Hew
Strachan, Chichele Professor of the History of War, Oxford
University
"Whether as cause or as effect, there have been very few books
about America's longest war, and even fewer good ones. ... To this
short list can now be added another great book on the Afghan war,
Carter Malkasian's War Comes to Garmser." -- John A. Nagl, Senior
Fellow, Center for a New American Security.
"Afghan officials and U.S. commanders credit Malkasian with playing
a critical role in the transformation of Garmser from one of the
country's most violent, Taliban-infested districts to a place so
quiet that some Marines wish they had more chances to fire their
weapons." -- Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post (8/13/2011
profile of Malkasian)
"[Malkasian's] rich, shrewdly constructed history of the area shows
how tribal elders used the United States and the Taliban as
resources in their own turf battles, which often revolved around
access to irrigated land... Malkasian's gem of a concluding
chapter... is best appreciated after a close reading of the
preceding chapters. The effort will be amply repaid."--Foreign
Affairs
"A first-rate account of [Malkasian's] experiences in Afghanistan's
Helmand Province." - The Wall Street Journal
Silver Medal for the Council on Foreign Relations' 2014 Arthur Ross
Book Award
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