I was an Embedded Trainer in the Afghan National Army back in Enduring Freedom IIi/IV. My experience at War was with the Afghans and through that I was introduced to the richness of their culture and traditions.. There has been only one other book before this that I would recommend to people to read about to get to know Afghanistan that I was able to know, Kabul in Winter. I now have two that can help share about the complexities of who the people are and what has happened in Afghanistan.
My review:
One of my struggles as someone who has served in the military and gotten to live and be around Afghan people is to be able to describe the rich culture that is there. The ways that they have struggles according to ethnicity, gender, and where they are in the birth order of their family. Twenty Years, Hope, War and the Betrayal of an Afghan Generation by Sune Engel Rasmussen conveys exactly these ideas. What is it like to grow up as a refugee and then return home? What are the options available for work and education in Afghanistan during this time? How different sides are being drawn up by the economic realities of the lives they are living. The effects of nepotism, corruption, and wealth in a war-torn country. In reading this book we can see how the goodwill of the Afghan people who had initial hope in what the West had to offer for their education and rights was betrayed.
I wanted to read this book specifically because of my experience as an Embedded Trainer in the Afghan Army. I had opportunities to sit down with Afghans for chai, negotiate for supplies with merchants in Kabul and Gardez for our Afghan Soldiers and as we moved to new places, what was needed to bring that garrison location online. I have often felt that the perspective of the people I had met is not being portrayed in the news or accounts that I have read about Afghanistan. This book contributes to correcting that deficiency.
Living in another culture can give a perspective that does not come from reading or watching media about it. It opens up conversations and shows the complexity that emerges from lived experiences. Afghanistan is a rich tapestry of contradictions and experiences that can be hard to explain to anyone who has not been there. In “Twenty Years” the author has been able to paint for us a detailed picture of the different interests and lives that have been the backdrop for the military actions that were ongoing in Afghanistan. For those who want to know more about his reporting and the sources that were used a chapter is dedicated to that topic at the end of the book
Sune has reported on Afghanistan since 2014 and was based in Kabul for three years for The Guardian and then continued to travel there and into the provinces for his stories. He has been a writer for The Wall Street Journal since 2018 which gives the reader credibility for his work as a journalist and storyteller. He is telling us real stories about real people, this is a work of nonfiction. He developed trust and rapport across genders and ethnicities in Afghanistan so that he could learn the “thoughts, or dreams of a person”. Making this a powerful tale is that they are all real conversations, none of his dialogue is fabricated or a composite of several people or their experiences.
At the heart of the book are “two characters whose conflicting experiences starkly indicate the broader divisions running through Afghanistan since 2001, Zahra (working for change as a woman and ethnic Hazara) and Omari (Hostile to U.S intervention and a member of the Taliban since he was 14.).There are four other main characters we get to know as the Twenty Years unfolds. Omari moves from being a jihadist to questioning those who sent him to war. Zahra whose parents return from Iran grows up, is married at 13, and we see how she is mistreated and her journey to be free from her abusive husband and find work to support her and her children. Fahim who grew up, became a translator for several European Military present and then moved on to become a contractor providing supplies, departing his country as the US presence pulled out. Parasto, whose parents let her know they would rather she had been a son, grows up against the grain of her society's expectations for girls and women, is educated works for the Afghan government, and then works to keep making education available for girls after the fall. Intertwined with each of these are what they believe is needed to be a good son, daughter, parent, and Muslim and the contradictions they will navigate as life happens.
The book is well written and readable without needing previous knowledge of the history and events that have happened in the region over the past 30 years. As the book works through its major movements of Ground Zero, Promises, The Undoing, and Exit Wounds we are introduced to men and women who are living what would be ordinary lives for Afghans during the turbulence of war. It provides us with in-depth descriptions of what their lives were like, the challenges they were facing, and the thoughts, dreams, and goals they had.