I don't know much about Afghanistan. I know there was a whole library of books that came out in the past 4 years covering the history and the politics of Afghanistan, particularly in regards to the Taliban, but you only have so much time and I'm not big on the big histories about the Middle East. And when we have a military engaged in the country in question, most of the books tend to shy away from a clear overview (even if they profess to offer that) to give a partisan take on the state of affairs. And I didn't really care to read a) about the religious movements within the Muslim world that has created a group of people who hate and blame the US for their situation or b) how horrible the First World has been to the backwards-thinking Third World countries of the world and how this is what happens when the US, UK, and the former USSR use these countries as pawns in a fight for global dominance. Sorry, I don't really care to spend my time being indoctrinated this way. I have some, uh, TV show, or video games, to watch instead. Besides, we all know (thanks to the Downing Street Memo) that the War on Terror's real focus has always been Iraq. Who cares about Afghanistan? We just pay attention to it when it has something to do with someone else- Russia, al-Qaeda, bin Laden, or the shadowy international drug cartel. I grabbed a galley of I is for Infidel by Kathy Gannon some time ago. I admit I did so mostly because it was very thin (coming in at 173 pages), but I was only aware of it due to the description of it in the publisher's catalog which made it seem accessible to someone who really had no idea about what was happening. As I was in-between books and needed something short for the week's commute (Friday was library day), I started reading the book on Tuesday and was done by my train ride home on Thursday. It does a wonderful job bringing the recent history of the region together. Granted it does not give as much explanation for the unaware nor does it dig deep enough for those well-read individuals, but the clear writing and the journalistic distance keep the book moving and offered up heart-breaking images of a guerilla war that has been going on for years before September 11th. I remember reading about the pull-out of the Russian troops and the stories of the US and CIA giving weapons to reactionary Muslims missiles to fight communism. But after that, Afghanistan was one of those countries in the Middle East that no one seemed to care about; nothing of note was happening. Well, nothing of note that directly affected the US. According to Gannon, this was actually a very key point in the evolution of current affairs that lead to September 11th. It was a dangerous time in the country as different tribal factions fought for control over the few remaining cities. From pummeling cities with gunfire and US supplied missiles to planting landmines and booby traps to maim the women and children stuck in the middle, the mujahadeen warriors were running the country in what amounted to a glorified turf war. It was a continuation of starvation and sorrow for the poor of the country. A time when the only real cash crop was the opium that was sold to international drug cartels. Then came the Taliban who cleaned the country up based on literal interpretations of the Quran. It was a little better for the people as there was stability. A stability based on the control of a fundamentalist religious group that implemented several strict rules that were in violation of human rights, but the UN let it slide. And then came September 11th when the US suddenly paid attention to Afghanistan once again. But this time it may be too late. As I mentioned, on of the main reasons I was interested in I is for Infidel in the first place is that Kathy Gannon (bio) has been reporting on Afghanistan since 1986 and has been one of the few Western reporters to have interviewed some of the men who were mujahadeen leaders and fighters who when the time was right joined the Taliban and have worked besides both bin Laden and Hamid Karzai. Given her unique position, not only as a woman reporter reporting in a very conservative, misogynistic country, but also as one of the few reporters or, in some cases, as the only reporter who was allowed access to people and places during the uprisings and skirmishes that have plagued Afghanistan since the end of the cold war, I was interested in a first-hand account of what the country has been going through. On this, the book does not disappoint. Like all great war reporters, Gannon gives you a view to some of the most horrific displays of destruction and then talks to the men who have caused this suffering to try to understand why. In the end, we're left with a view of Afghanistan as just plain unlucky. There is no justifiable reason for what has happened in the country just a string of cause and effect that edge towards a jihad against the West. And now that the world has applauded the reinstallation of several of the men who are at fault for the past 20 years of Afghanistan policy, we can only wait for the same events to play out over and over again. An excerpt of the book can be found at Foreign Affairs Magazine under the working title of Afghanistan Unbound here .