Ebook: War comes to Garmser: thirty years of conflict on the Afghan frontier

If you want to understand Afghanistan, writes Carter Malkasian, you need to understand what has happened on the ground, in the villages and countryside that were on the front line. These small places are the heart of the war. Malkasian's War Comes to Garmser promises to be a landmark account of the war in Afghanistan. The author, who spent nearly two years in Garmser, a community in war-torn Helmand province, tells the story of this one small place through the jihad, the rise and fall of Taliban regimes, and American and British surge. Based on his conversations with hundreds of Afghans, including government officials, tribal leaders, religious leaders, and over forty Taliban, and drawing on primary source material, Malkasian takes readers into the world of the Afghans. Through their feuds, grievances, beliefs, and way of life, Malkasian shows how people of Garmser have struggled for three decades through brutal wars and short-lived regimes. Beginning with victorious but destabilizing jihad against the Soviets and the ensuing civil war, he explains how Taliban movement formed; how, after being routed in 2001, they returned stronger in 2006; and how Afghans, British, and Americans fought with them. He describes the lives of Afghans who endured and tried to build some kind of order out of war. While Americans and British came and went, Afghans carried on, year after year.;List of names -- List of tribes and political entities -- Glossary of terms -- Preface: Small places -- Grand plans -- The jihad -- Civil war -- The Taliban regime -- Victory into defeat -- The second Taliban regime -- Pushing farther south -- Wakil Manan, Mian Poshtay, and the riots -- The Alizai return -- The Taliban counter-offensive -- Winning the peace -- Conclusion: the end or the intermission?