Cables From Kabul-The Inside Story of the West's Afghanistan Campaign-Sherard Cowper-Coles

Current Affairs/Memoir/History

 

Cables From Kabul-The Inside Story of the West's Afghanistan Campaign

Sherard Cowper-Coles

 

            Sherard Cowper Coles was British ambassador in Afghanistan from 2007-2009 and then British Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan for about a year. For over three years he had a bird’s-eye view of West's effort to bring Afghanistan back to normalcy —normalcy as perceived by West and for West, read predominantly USA— after more than three decades of incessant wars, both external and internal. This book is not an in-depth analysis of West's Afghanistan campaign, which began in 2001 and continues still. These are Sherard's memoirs of his stay and involvement in Afghanistan, albeit, with thoughtful analysis of the Afghanistan situation, the incessant follies which US politicians perpetrated and the helplessness of British government to influence the Campaign as its role was just to bolster the US efforts and play a minor partner in the larger game. Thus, the book tells the story of a small part of Afghanistan's latest tryst with west and that too from the perspective of a British civil servant. Sherard writes effortlessly, humorously and frequently poignantly. He talks about the hectic life of diplomats in a strife-torn country and the corrupt bureaucracy of Afghanistan. He frequently mentions and writes in length about the suave, cultured, whimsical, insecure, bordering on paranoid,  the shrewd President of Afghanistan, Ahmed Karzai, his lack of any significant vision for his country's future, his obsession with the legacy he wants to leave behind and his unreasonable love for his kith and kin in government. He is forthright and severely castigates West's Afghanistan policy that saw Afghanistan only as a military and security problem and refused to address or recognise the political and social issues.

            Though the book provides a limited perspective (both temporally and in the width of issues analysed) of this vastly intricate problem with multifarious ramifications, it's easy narrative, honest and sincere analysis and first hand reportage would immensely delight a reader interested in books on this region. For a wider coverage reader can choose from a plethora of books available. Ahmed Rashid's trilogy comes to mind first.