No Worse Enemy: The Inside Story of the Chaotic Struggle for Afghanistan [Hardcover]

Ben Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 19, 2012

Informed by over 300 hours of frontline footage with the U.S. Marines, critically acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ben Anderson provides a gripping account of the Afghanistan war in Helmand province.

The only journalist to have witnessed every Afghan military campaign under Obama, Anderson charts the progress of the President’s counter-insurgency strategy and shows how it has become a lost cause. Including interviews with military top brass, this book reveals the disturbing chasm between official rhetoric and the reality on the ground. While Afghan civilians doubt American resolve and miss the relative peace under the Taliban, the drug-addled local army is hopelessly unprepared for American handover.

Enjoying unrivaled respect from the troops (one marine described him as a “brave motherf***er”), Anderson offers the most intimate depiction of the war seen in print. Eating, sleeping, and being shot at with the troops, he witnessed first-hand IED explosions, American casualties, civilian deaths and Taliban soldiers that melt into the local population. The definitive book on the struggle for Helmand, No Worse Enemy is a bold and frightening exposé of the longest war in U.S. history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The most intense fighting footage and the best anatomy of a battle I’ve ever seen.”
— Spike Jonze (Academy Award-winning director) on Ben Anderson’s film Taking on the Taliban

About the Author

Ben Anderson has been making documentaries and writing for over 14 years, producing over forty films for HBO, the Discovery Channel, PBS and VBS, and the BBC. He has written and presented five of his own series for BBC television in the UK. His films have been finalists for the BAFTA and he has written for Esquire, The Times of London, Guardian, London Review of Books, Mirror, and the Daily Mail. He has appeared on a variety of national TV shows in the US, including: MSNBC Morning Joe, MSNBC Jansing and Company, FOX America's Newsroom, CNN Parker/Spitzer and MSNBC Hardball with Chris Matthews. He lives in the UK.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Oneworld Publications (April 19, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1851688528
• ISBN-13: 978-1851688524
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #343,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Public Affairs & Policy > Non-Governmental Organizations

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening March 21, 2012

By Antoinette Alexis

Format:Hardcover

I am not usually into war books , but I have often wondered what is really going on in Afghanistan today and this book summarises the shoe situation perfectly. It's a must read- it submerges you into the true reality of the conflict ! The style is original and eye opening as the brave journalist Ben Anderson who follows, for weeks and months on end, the US Marines and British soldiers as they carry out the biggest military operations. He's right there when people are getting killed around him, risking his life again and again. Because he is right there on the frontline, he sees what's really happening, from all angles. This gives you a broad insight into how difficult it has been for the fighting troops- and how terrifying it is for the innocent local people. Truly gripping, clever and compassionately written the book takes you through all the emotions. I'm reading it again already.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing Book on the Afghan War April 25, 2012

By Aussie Reader

Format:Hardcover

I had to think long and hard about what I was going to try and say in my review of this book; "No Worse Enemy". It's a good book written from the perspective of a British journalist and documentary filmmaker (The documentary; The Battle for Marjah is based on part of this book) who has been visiting Afghanistan off and on for the last few years.

This book covers the period 2007 to early 2011 starting off with the British forces on the ground and finishing with the Marines at Sangin in Helmand province. The author made the point of going out on patrol with the soldiers of both nations and to see the war through their eyes and also through the eyes of the Afghan civilians they were supposedly fighting the war for.

The book presents the reader with the contradiction between policy and statements offered by allied governments and what is actually occurring on the ground and in the villages throughout the provinces of Afghanistan. It reminded me of this famous incident:

"Writing about the provincial capital, B'n Tre, on 7 February 1968, Peter Arnett cited an unidentified U.S. military official as follows: "'It became necessary to destroy the town to save it', a United States major said today. He was talking about the decision by allied commanders to bomb and shell the town regardless of civilian casualties, to rout the Vietcong." The quote became famous, eventually becoming the more familiar, "We had to destroy the village in order to save it". - This seems to be what is happening out in the villages and fields of Afghanistan.

In the book the author offered this comparison for readers to try and understand the difficulties the British forces had in implementing their policy of an 'Afghan Development Zone' in Helmand province during 2007:

"To begin to understand how hard it was for the British to attempt to carry out this policy, imagine an Indian dropped into Chicago, or a Brazilian dropped into Islamabad. Imagine asking them, without speaking the language or having any idea who to trust, to create, staff and monitor an entirely new system of government. What's more, imagine asking them to do this within six months, while fighting a war and after having killed several hundred civilians by mistake."

The author writes well and his descriptions of some of the firefights and skirmishes and very evocative, like this account of a one-on-one battle between a Taliban sniper and some Marine marksmen:

"Above us, the cracks of the competition between marksmen continued. Its structure was polite, like a conversation between strangers; back and forth, back and forth, sometimes in single words, sometimes in sentences. Often, the participants waited a few minutes to take their turn. In between, there was an awful silence. It was careful, considered and cerebral. There seemed to be rules, tricks, feints and a mutual respect that suggested an etiquette. Occasionally, of course, someone at either end collapsed into a lifeless heap."

The author also provided numerous accounts of how the Afghan National Army (ANA) conducted their operations under Marine guidance and on their own:

"I'd also caught a glimpse of how the Afghan National Army was likely to operate after NATO forces left. A small ANA unit had charged ahead of the American soldiers and found all the IEDs in a small village in less than an hour. `How did you do it?' asked the American captain, astounded. `Did you offer the locals $50 for each IED they revealed, like we trained you?' `No', said the ANA captain, excitedly, `we told them `show us the IEDs or start digging your own grave'."

Accounts like this one below about an Afghan interpreter attached to the Marines tend to bring home the sadness felt by those who are stuck in this hell with no hope of rotation back home:

"Rock was skinny, with bright, yellowy-green eyes and long eyelashes. Away from the marines, he revealed a sadness, at being away from his family, and seeing the suffering of the Afghans in Helmand province, that was heart-breaking. He was also sad that marines and large parts of the rest of the world saw Helmand and thought `Afghanistan'. He was from Mazar-e-Sharif, which, he kept telling everyone, was a beautiful place with no war."

In the end the book brought home to me that possibly we are losing the war in Afghanistan and it may end up being another Vietnam. Only time will tell, but I think every politician and those who send our men into harm's way should read this book and reflect on what we are supposedly trying to do and what we have actually done.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Failing State. Successful Cover-ups. June 28, 2012

By Natalie

Format:Kindle Edition

Ben Anderson follows both the British Army and the American Marines through some of the most dangerous areas in Afghanistan as they attempt to bring stability to the region. Anderson seems to become a confessor for the troops - and the truths they reveal are both shocking and saddening. Many say how they feel that they have been forgotten by their home countries, and that the real war in Afghanistan is being covered up by the media and governments who are desperate to show a stabilising country instead of one falling further into war. No Worse Enemy is a stark portrayal of the Afghanistan war that leaves you with the realisation of how little you know about what is really happening out there. An excellent piece of reportage, for both soldiers and civilians alike.