| Portobello Books |
Portobello Books Ltd Twelve Addison Avenue, London W11 4QR
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Tel +44(0)20 7605 1380 Fax +44 (0) 20 7605 1361 mail@portobellobooks.com
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What happens when the War on Terror media circus packs up and leaves town? One brave foreign woman stayed behind to find out. This is her extraordinary report back to the rest of the world. Sarah Chayes has spent the past five years in Afghanistan dressing like a man and eschewing the expat world of hotels and parties in order to get closer to a people who fascinate her, and to one man in particular, the heroic commander of police, Akrem Khakrezwal. He shows Chayes how democracy is built brick by brick, how much scaffolding it needs, how easily it can tumble. Living in the old capital Kandahar, studying original documents in Farsi and Arabic, sharing meals with the wily president Karzai and his tenacious opponent Gul Agha Shirzai, she gains unparalleled access to tribal leaders, cunning warlords, jihadist insurgents and opium traders, as well as politicians, police chiefs and Pakistani Intelligence agents - all contending for power in this uniquely strategic land. In this mesmerizing work of history and reportage, Chayes lets us in to a new understanding of Afghanistan at a pivotal moment. It is an urgent book, and an immensely readable story. |
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