This book contains chapters from a several civilian 'Stabads', which is short for 'Stabilisation Advisors'. All were posted to small military forward posts in Helmand Province, one of Afghanistan's most dangerous areas, alongside British, American and (in one case) Danish soldiers. In their roles, these men and women witnessed the war from a unique perspective, and this book recounts their tales and experiences, from the laughably bizarre to the tragic and traumatic.
What is so refreshing about it is that all the authors - each one has their own tale to tell - tells their story in their own voice. One of the pack is a joker, another is a granny (yes, the British really did send a grandmother to talk to senior Afghan leaders, and 'combat granny', as the British troops called her, actually seemed to do very well), one is a former journalist, another an aid worker, and so on. And they write about what it was like when, for example, the ration supplies ran low, or a patrol came in after taking casualties, or when a helicopter landed in one of these outposts (for some of the most isolated post, it was a very major event), or when Afghan school kids mobbed them at a publicity event, or when the Taliban attacked their compound from three sides. One of the Stabads suffered the loss of not one but two commanding officers, and writes movingly about how it affected the troops (and not quite in the ways you would have expected).
All in all, this is an excellent book, which avoids all the high-level strategic nonsense about the Afghanistan war. There are plenty enough armchair generals (and wannabee armchair generals) who've written about that already. This book shows what the war was really like for people with large brains who stuck it out, through boiling summers and freezing winters, through Taliban attacks and long spells when nothing happened, until they finally came home.
Thirty years from know, I really hope this book is in the top ten books on the Afghan conflict that people read to understand what happened there, because it really should be.
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![Making Peace in War: Stories from Civilians on Helmund's Front Line by [Richard Jones, Hamish Wilson, Julius Strauss, Ian Purves, Geoff Hope, Tim Gurney, Jamal Abbasi, Iain King , Lou Perrotta, Iain King]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51JMrT59AYL._SY346_.jpg)
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Customer reviews
Top reviews from other countries
ianemassey
Making Peace in War - A story of civilians working in Helmand Province.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 29, 2014Verified Purchase
Amazon Customer
Great stuff.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 5, 2014Verified Purchase
Adrian
A perspective few get to share
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 2, 2014Verified Purchase
Radhika Seth
The version we don't get to hear...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 13, 2014Verified Purchase
