Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan | Robert D. Kaplan

Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan | Robert D. Kaplan | Please Read Robert Kaplan

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Soldiers of God: W...

	Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan Robert D. Kaplan Vintage, 2001 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 23 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

First time in paperback, with a new Introduction and final chapter

World affairs expert and intrepid travel journalist Robert D. Kaplan braved the dangers of war-ravaged Afghanistan in the 1980s, living among the mujahidin?the ?soldiers of god??whose unwavering devotion to Islam fueled their mission to oust the formidable Soviet invaders. In Soldiers of God we follow Kaplan?s extraordinary journey and learn how the thwarted Soviet invasion gave rise to the ruthless Taliban and the defining international conflagration of the twenty-first century.

Kaplan returns a decade later and brings to life a lawless frontier. What he reveals is astonishing: teeming refugee camps on the deeply contentious Pakistan-Afghanistan border; a war front that combines primitive fighters with the most technologically advanced weapons known to man; rigorous Islamic indoctrination academies; a land of minefields plagued by drought, fierce tribalism, insurmountable ethnic and religious divisions, an abysmal literacy rate, and legions of war orphans who seek stability in military brotherhood. Traveling alongside Islamic guerrilla fighters, sharing their food, observing their piety in the face of deprivation, and witnessing their determination, Kaplan offers a unique opportunity to increase our understanding of a people and a country that are at the center of world events.

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A first rate book on Afghanistan

Kaplan is an American journalist who made several trips into Afghanistan during the time that the Soviet Union had occupied Afghanistan and was intent on turning Afghanistan into a communist country.

In his trips, Kaplan experienced and describes the life common to all mountain peoples, the cruelty and gruesomeness of war especially in its counter-insurgency edition, and the traditions of the different Afghan tribes. He describes the leaders of the resistance, except for the Islamist factions, who are all but ignored, and the various rather eccentric Europeans and Americans who joined their cause.

This book is moving - what else would one expect of a people that was willing to sustain a million fatalities in order to maintain their customs and not be occupied by a foreign power?

To use a colossal understatement, Afghanistan is a very colorful place, nothing at all like American suburbia. Anyone who wants to understand Afghanistan must recognize this fact. The best parts of the book, which alone are worth the price of the book, are the many thumbnail descriptions of the eccentric people and surreal situations that Kaplan found in Afghanistan.

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Please Read Robert Kaplan

Really another outstanding book by Kaplan. In depth and personal view of the mujahidin in Afghanistan in the 80's. Kaplan may be a little biased, or wonder struck by the personalities he interviewed and lived with, and at times is self-congratulatory about his prescience, however, he acknowledges both facts in his re-written foreword. Neither of these points dilute the quality of this book, though. For me, it was a great read that illuminated class and clan struggle in Afghanistan, and a wonderful distinction between religious fundamentalism and politically institutionalized religious extremism.

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The Many Worlds of Afghanistan

I read Soldiers of God at the same time that I read The Bookseller of Kabul (for book club) and found Soldiers to be an enlightening companion read because while Bookseller focused on one family in Kabul, its interpersonal dynamics, and how religion and culture affected its members, Soldiers gave a broader view of various groups and their political and personal dynamics in Afghanistan. Also, both books were written by Western journalists, which gave the books a somewhat similar (though by no means identical) perspective on Afghanistan, although differing in scope.

Specific to Soldiers, I enjoyed Robert Kaplan's story telling (part travelogue, part reportage), his ability to gain access to some very insular groups, and his obvious desire to present them and their goals as accurately as possible. It was compelling reading for me as I knew little about the country, its myriad elements and history.

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Not the best book on Afghanistan or War-reporting, but not a total waste of time either

I developed quite a dislike for Kaplan as I read this book, but the subject matter was sufficiently fascinating to help me forgive his not-entirely-subtle dislike of Asians. This book provides an on the ground view of the Soviet Invasion and subsequent chaos. The glimpses of Afghani society, although mostly confined to men involved in war, and the physical descriptions of Afghanistan's landscape were captivating. Kaplan seems quite enamored of the Pashtun culture, especially in comparison to Pakistan, which is portrayed unflatteringly but not entirely unfairly as a potential terrorist breeding ground. He seems to see himself as a brave, hugely suffering war reporter, although the most extreme suffering he appears to undergo is occasional separation from soft drinks. Obviously my disinclination for the author colored my view of the book, but I feel it was worthwhile reading as it increased my knowledge of the Soviet-Afghan war and my conviction that terrorism has its roots in poverty and desperation rather than pure ideology

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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