Losing Afghanistan : An Obituary for the Intervention / Noah Coburn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Coburn, Noah, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Afghan War, 2001-2021--Political aspects.

Afghan War, 2001-2021.

Nation-building--Afghanistan.

Nation-building.

Economic assistance--Afghanistan.

Economic assistance.

Afghanistan--Politics and government--2001-2021.

Afghanistan.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (261 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press, [2020]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The U.S.-led intervention in Afghanistan mobilized troops, funds, and people on an international level not seen since World War II. Hundreds of thousands of individuals and tens of billions of dollars flowed into the country. But what was gained for Afghanistan—or for the international community that footed the bill? Why did development money not lead to more development? Why did a military presence make things more dangerous? Through the stories of four individuals—an ambassador, a Navy SEAL, a young Afghan businessman, and a wind energy engineer—Noah Coburn weaves a vivid account of the challenges and contradictions of life during the intervention. Looking particularly at the communities around Bagram Airbase, this ethnography considers how Afghans viewed and attempted to use the intervention and how those at the base tried to understand the communities around them. These compelling stories step outside the tired paradigms of 'unruly' Afghan tribes, an effective Taliban resistance, and a corrupt Karzai government to show how the intervention became an entity unto itself, one doomed to collapse under the weight of its own bureaucracy and contradictory intentions.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Images

Abbreviations

1. Surveying the Intervention from Above

2. Intervening

3. The Exotic Tribes of the Intervention

4. Before the Invasion

5. A New Era?

6. Contracting the Intervention

7. Climbing over the Wall

8. The Merchant–Warlord Alternative

9. Warlord Density and Its Discontents

10. How to Host Your Own Shura

11. The Pieces Left Behind

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-237) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jul 2020)

ISBN:

9780804797801

0804797803

OCLC:

1178769294