Afghanistan

Stoner cops, Taliban farmers, no gas in sight. Behind the lines of the Pentagon's Afghanistan counterinsurgency.

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In response to my article on Afghanistan in the Boston Review, several members of the Illinois State National Guard with whom I traveled in Helmand last summer expressed disappointment and even a sense of betrayal. I was surprised because I tried to be as sympathetic as possible, and show their decency and humanity, as I do with all people I write about. Perhaps they mistook a criticism of their mission or the strategy with a criticism of them personally.

In his piece, "Something from Nothing: U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan," Rosen argues that counterinsurgency doesn't make sense. It asks soldiers, concerned primarily with survival, to be Wyatt Earp and Mother Theresa. This forum, unveiled over several days, showcases critical reviews of the piece and Rosen's response. Among the six participating critics are Helena Cobban, asserting that Rosen's analysis neglects to account for U.S. domestic politics, and Andrew Exum, arguing that the Central Asian conflict likely marks the end of an era of counterinsurgency as a form of warfare.

Shaun McCanna, for the Pulitzer Center

In Afghanistan, the number of kids in school has grown more than six times since the Taliban were in power. But millions of children still wait, and classrooms and qualified teachers are lacking.

On July 4, 2009 Team Prowler, American soldiers from the Illinois National Guard, set off to patrol Highway 601, a key road in Afghanistan's Helmand province. All trade entering the province passed through 601. It was the land supply route for British, American, and Afghan forces, and the "skuff" hall in the British-run base was getting low on food. The Taliban controlled villages along the road. "Nothing out there but the Taliban," one soldier said. Civilian vehicles avoided 601 because of the roadside bombs, called IEDs.

See video as it originally ran at Democracy Now!.

In December 2008 I flew Royal Jordanian from Amman to Iraq's southern city of Basra. Because of the Muslim holiday of Eid, embassies were closed; a contact in the British military promised to obtain visas for me and a colleague upon arrival. The Iraqi customs officials were offended that we did not follow procedure, but a letter from the British commander got us in. It might not have been necessary: when the five Iraqi policemen who examined luggage at the exit saw my colleague's copy of Patrick Cockburn's excellent book on the Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr, they turned giddy.

I'm settled, at last, in Islamabad, and trying to get my head around the transformation afoot here. Certainly, the country has come a long way since I was last here in 2005. One thing that is new is the size and the vibrancy of Pakistani media, in both Urdu and English, in print, on air and online.

Shaun McCanna will discuss Afghanistan on the "Veteran's Voice" radio program on Friday, November 20. The show will air on KBOO 90.7 in Portland, Oregon during the 9am Pacific time hour.

Shaun McCanna will be on The Michelangelo Signorile Show on Friday, Oct. 30, at 3:30 EST, discussing the heroin problem among soldiers in Afghanistan. The show airs on the OutQ channel, Sirius 109/XM 98.