Karzai: The Failing American Intervention and the Struggle for Afghanistan Capa dura - 2007

In the fall of 2001, as Hamid Karzai and a small group of soldiers faced a grueling trek in the Afghan mountains in the quest to overthrow the Taliban, life or death hinged on two things: the centuries-old wisdom of a local guide and the dwindling battery life of a twenty-first-century satellite phone. Like his country, Karzai stood at a crossroads where success would depend on embracing the rich history and diverse traditions of Afghan culture while skillfully managing the promises and perils of a modern outside world with powerful interests of its own.

Today, as president of Afghanistan, Karzai and his nation are still at a crossroads as they struggle to develop a peaceful, stable, and democratic country in the face of tremendous logistical, political, and security challenges. Karzai shares the never-before-told personal story of this charismatic Afghan leader, offering a unique and intimate portrait of the man, his life, his leadership, and his country's difficulties.

Author Nick Mills, who first met Karzai in the 1980s, draws on his in-depth knowledge of Afghanistan and months of exclusive personal interviews with President Karzai in the Gulkhana Palace in Kabul to take a balanced and insightful look at Karzai's dramatic journey from his birth as the son of a Pashtun tribal chief to the presidency of Afghanistan at one of recent history's most dramatic moments. The book reveals how Karzai's early years in Karz and Kabul with his prominent--but not wealthy--family, his fluency in languages (Pashtu, Dari, and English), and his university education in India all played a role in helping him develop the diplomatic skill and multicultural perspective that have informed his work in the Afghan National Liberation Front against the Soviets and later the Taliban, as well as his dealings with U.S. government officials, world leaders, and the drug lords and Islamic extremists who now threaten him and his country.

President Karzai's story sheds light on the Afghan cultural tradition of the loya jirga (grand assembly) and the competitive sport of buzkashi, which do much to explain his consensus-based approach to government and perceived reluctance to tackle certain problems, including the growing power of the Afghan drug trade, head on. It also reveals what he views as a steadfast commitment to safeguarding the history and culture of his country from further destruction at the hands of outsiders, such as those who infiltrated the Taliban movement that oversaw systematic killings of Afghan leaders--including Karzai's own father--and the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan.

While President Karzai is known for a typically measured and moderate style, he doesn't mince words in taking the West to task for its cooperation with extremist Muslim groups of the jihad in the 1980s and for the ramifications of failed U.S. intervention today. He issues an urgent warning to the West not to abandon Afghanistan again, as it did after the Soviet withdrawal, or "the same terrible drama of death and destruction will take the stage again."