War Comes to Garmser

Carter Malkasian spent nearly two years in Garmser district as the political officer working for the US Department of State. A Pashto speaker, he lived in a Marine outpost but spent most of his time with Afghans, often riding, eating, and sleeping with them. He interviewed hundreds of Afghans about the war, their district, and its history, including forty or so Taliban.

'War Comes to Garmser explores the war in Afghanistan from an explicitly provincial Afghan point of view, where foreigners (and even Kabul officials) are marginal actors rather than the centre of the story. Malkasian presents what is in effect a fifty-year oral history of a single district in volatile southern Afghanistan, illustrating the truism that all politics is local. - Even those with little interest in the politics cannot help but be drawn into the lives of the vivid characters Malkasian skilfully sketches.' - Times Literary Supplement 'Afghan officials and US 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 '... 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. ... 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.' - Matthieu Aikins, New York Times '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 Nagl, Professor, US Naval War College 'In the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Malkasian spent two years in Garmser as a State Department political officer. His 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 [ - ] Malkasian's gem of a concluding chapter - which analyses the opportunities the United States missed during the early years of the war and offers specific recommendations on what could and should be done now - is best appreciated after a close reading of the preceding chapters. The effort will be amply repaid.' - John Waterbury, Foreign Affairs 'Add Malkasian - a brave, brilliant and practical man - to the names Lawrence, Galula, Lansdale and Vann. This is the definitive work on counterinsurgency at the district level. An absorbing detective story that answers the questions, "how does the Taliban take power at the village level, and how can they be defeated?"' - Bing West, author of The Village and The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy and the Way Out of Afghanistan 'War Comes to Garmser is a brilliantly written, minutely detailed and rigorously honest political-military history. A microcosm of the war in Afghanistan, it is evocative of opportunities missed and possibilities yet to exploit. A must-read for those who want understanding that is more than headline deep.' - Ronald E. Neumann, former United States Ambassador to Afghanistan (2005-2007), now president of the American Academy of Diplomacy '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

'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 Nagl, Professor, US Naval War College 'Add Malkasian - a brave, brilliant and practical man - to the names Lawrence, Galula, Lansdale and Vann. This is the definitive work on counterinsurgency at the district level. An absorbing detective story that answers the questions, "how does the Taliban take power at the village level, and how can they be defeated?"' - Bing West, author of The Village and The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy and the Way Out of Afghanistan 'Afghan officials and US 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

'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 Nagl, Professor, US Naval War College 'Add Malkasian - a brave, brilliant and practical man - to the names Lawrence, Galula, Lansdale and Vann. This is the definitive work on counterinsurgency at the district level. An absorbing detective story that answers the questions, "how does the Taliban take power at the village level, and how can they be defeated?"' - Bing West, author of The Village and The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy and the Way Out of Afghanistan 'Afghan officials and US 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 '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