War Against the Taliban: Why It All Went Wrong in Afghanistan

by Sandy Gall

Afghanistan's strategically significant lands have long been fought over by foreign invaders. Today, as yet another generation risks life and limb in this inhospitable territory, an ever-rising death toll puts back under the spotlight the way the modern war in Afghanistan is being run, and demands answers. Drawing on interviews with Afghan politicians, businessmen and ordinary people, British, American and European diplomats and soldiers, Sandy Gall addresses the challenges - political, religious, and military - that face those now fighting on the most dangerous frontier in the world.

Genres: Nonfiction, War, Middle East, Asia, History, Politics, Military History

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 7, 2012

About the author

Henderson Alexander Gall was a Scottish journalist, author and Independent Television News (ITN) news presenter whose career as a journalist spanned more than 50 years. He began his career in journalism as a sub-editor at the Aberdeen Press and Journal in 1952 and became a foreign correspondent for the Reuters international news agency from 1953 to 1963. Gall joined ITN as a foreign reporter and troubleshooter in 1963, and also worked as a newscaster on News at Ten between 1970 and 1991. He was the Rector of the University of Aberdeen from 1978 to 1981 and founded the Sandy Gall's Afghanistan Appeal charity with his wife in 1986.

Reviews

[Anil Swarup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely well researched book that tells us a lot of what we already know but provides evidence regarding our perceptions about the war in Afghanistan. We were aware of the dubious role of Pakistan but Sandy Gall provides conclusive evidence of Pakistan being "the most stupendous liar". The author quotes Waldman while nailing Pakistan duplicity: "Pakistan appears to be playing a double-game of astonishing magnitude". The ISI also stands exposed in this war. The author is convinced that "The ISI is above law, or you might say, is the law"
Invading Iraq is considered by Sandy Gall as the biggest blunder and has proved costly. We knew this as well but the author provides cogent reasons for coming to this conclusion. He goes on to state that "to fight two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, simultaneously, led to the serious overstretch". He makes this comment in the context of Britain but is true for the US as well.

[Fadillah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me almost 2 months to finish reading it. Why is it so? Sandy Gall presented a quite elaborated writing based on the interviews and experiences of people who is involved in Afghanistan directly and indirectly. The frustration over bureaucracy of government, the incapability of politicians to assist, the sudden move of focus from Afghanistan to Iraq --- all of this contributed to what went wrong Afghanistan. If you are interested to know more about War on terror in Afghanistan, this is one of the books i would recommend.

[Mal Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit of a let-down - it's difficult for me to put my finger on why this one doesn't really work in this format, but it is disjointed and more than a little mundane for large sections.

That's disappointing because Sandy Gall has been a tremendous broadcaster - brave, balanced and reeking of integrity. He's led a full and fascinating life and few British journalists can claim the depth of knowledge and the kind of influential network he has maintained in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I couldn't help feeling that he was holding quite a lot back from publication (probably with understandably good reason), but it detracts from the book as a whole.

The one aspect I truly enjoyed was his understanding of Afghanistan pre-9/11, which is often lacking in other accounts. Worth a read, but it's far from essential.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sandy Gall is a very well respected TV News journalist of the right kind. No bullshit celebrity stories for him, he is a real journalist of the old school.
So for those that didn't know. The War in Afghanistan in brief.
America decides to invade Afghanistan and as usual Great Britain and others go in to help them.
The problem is America funded Pakistan to the tune of Billions of Dollars of aid and Pakistan through the ISI (Secret Police) fund the Taliban and in fact reward them for killing foreign forces. The Afghan government are a bunch of corrupt scum bags who play both sides whilst at the same time funnelling literally billions out of the country for their personal use, to Dubai (who turn a blind eye to everything). Also of course the filthy Saudi scum also fund the Taliban (as do other Arabic countries who pretend to be friends of the west). America and it's Allies seem to know all this, yet, they continue to throw taxpayers money straight into the terrorists pockets, ignoring the fact that the money will be used against coalition forces. It's an oft repeated story. That America funds terrorism cannot be in doubt, the stupidity is they then send their own soldiers to die in pointless wars against an enemy they are funding. Madness, utter madness.

[Alex Sarmiento · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two things the author wants you to know: we failed in Afghanistan because

1) Pakistan ISI funding the Taliban insurgency
2) we got distracted by the war in Iraq

Just saved you a bunch of time.

[Martin Dismore · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read and an extremely well documented and researched book by Sandy Gall. I particularly liked his extensive analysis of the role of Pakistan and the India/Pakistan problem at the end. I thought he could have been a bit more robust about the issue of Platoon Houses and the criticism that should have descended on Brigadier Butler. The book answers many of my questions about the conflict but I felt it could have questioned the British Army's over eagerness to fight battles (i.e. fire bullets) rather than engage in meaningful reconstruction both political and economic - but I accept that this was not all their fault - and the US has a particular problem with reconstruction of phase IV as they call it and here, Sandy Gall quite rightly blames the US Neocons.

[Bharath Ravikumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though the reasons of the problem are as clear as the daylight the author has comprehensively elaborated the whole picture. The book starts off promisingly but fails to hold on the reader in the middle pages. The points keep on repeating and becomes redundant after sometime. However, the book is intriguing in parts and definitely adds a perspective to our understanding of the war of the modern world against Taliban.

[Muhammad Syed · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute gem on the Afghan and in particular Taliban issue. Sheds in depth light on why Taliban are still present on the scene and difficult to counter.

A must read for all those who want an independent account of the war on terror and who holds the edge.


A must recommendation to all.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very valuable addition to understanding how the issue was created and how it became a morass...