mrsbond's review against another edition
5.0
If you can read past the author's occasional political jabs, this is an amazing look at the current condition of women in Afghanistan, the realities of international aid, as well as the nation's culture and history.
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
2.0
Some good writing, some excellent observation but lacks any appearance of objective balance. Which is fine, but doesn't inspire confidence.
Not all of the problems in Afghanistan can be laid at the feet of meddling superpowers. Nor is transplanting middle class westernized values going to assist in solving wider problems.
Worth reading as one set of observations.
Not all of the problems in Afghanistan can be laid at the feet of meddling superpowers. Nor is transplanting middle class westernized values going to assist in solving wider problems.
Worth reading as one set of observations.
msgtdameron's review against another edition
4.0
A while back I reviewed "Stones to Schools". I observed that Mortenson very likely had ticked off the CIA or other Government agencies and had his educational charity disgraced with him. Ann Jones work shows the same corruption but it is even deeper than I believed.
This work started slow as another American do gooder going to Afghanistan and her experiences. It is, but her experience is one of frustration as the American run NGO's are all looking for U.S. Government contracts. How these contracts are awarded and run by people who have no idea what the Afghanis want or need. U.S. Government people who never even asked the population what they needed. Contracts based on a, one man, doing a needs assessment for Afghanistan, but he never left Kabul. How the hell can you assess a countries needs with out visiting the country? For contrast; if you visit London have you seen England? I mean what about Stonehenge, Dover, Stratford on Avon, or Hastings? By visiting London can you say you've seen England? The same can be said about visiting any city and saying you've seen the whole country. For Texans, is The Alamo the only thing to see in TX? No. And you've made my point. But, based on this week long visit to Kabul the U.S. Government has spent Billions on Afghan aid. Aid that comes from the top down.
Top down aid is like trickle down economics. Top Down Aid supplies money to contractors and experts who don't leave the safe zones of Kabul. To be fair these educational, women's rights, Legal, any one NOT building infrastructure for the U.S. Army, experts can't by the rules they work under. As one USAID supervisor told Ann Jones, "I leave the compound with 12 heavily armed GI's in three armored cars. I show up at a school I'll scare these kids to death." These are the real rules our NGO's that work for USAID are under. Miss Jones is a 30ish U.S. women who does not wear a burque and drives around Afghanistan with her and her driver. Sometimes with other foreign women and their translator to various locations all over the country. Never had any problems. Do Aid workers get kidnapped, yes. mostly not by the Taliban but by local gangs who want some of that U.S. cash they see being spent by westerners on fancy food, liquor, women, and expensive homes with security. NOTE: Many of the women in brothels are kidnapped Afghani women who have been sold into prostitution by gangs, Muhajadeen, or their families. Families see girl children as a burden so selling them to traffickers is a good deal for the father. I digress. Afghanistan is not or was not as dangerous at the time this book was written as CNN, BBC, CBS, or the rest would have the U.S public believe. Much of our Aid was and will continue to be wasted on experts who are American, American sponsored, or American corporations on these top down plans. Americans who are not allowed out into the country side for fear they will get kidnapped or killed. Americans who have no idea what is actually needed by Afghanistan to make it work. Americans who's corporate sponsor is more concerned about making progress mile stones than actually educating, providing health care, building roads, or any of a plethora of things that are needed to repair Afghanistan.
The moral of this work is we have and are continuing to fail the Afghanis.
Before I finish a comment about the latest news from Afghanistan. The Trump Administration is working on finalizing a deal to with draw U.S. forces from Afghanistan. A deal with the Taliban. Now as bad as USAID and the way it is distributed is giving the county back to illiterate religious fanatics is a bad idea. Women will be forced back to the home. Education will go back to the zealot Madras. The country will go back to a civil war. And in ten years a large number of religious fanatics will come out of the Khyber Pass and enter the west. All for an oil pipe line from the Caspian to Karachi. SP ask your self should the U.S. give Afghanistan back to the Taliban or should we fix our USAID problem? Should we keep giving money away to corporate America for top down fixes that aren't working or go to grass root efforts that are cheaper and have a history of being successful?
When we invade back in 2002, I told my troops that this was the beginning of a 100 to 150 year work to get these people to stop killing each other and call a cop. The U.S. has shown that we aren't interested in actually creating viable states. We are interested in providing a trough for the military industrial complex to get rich. A place for big oil, that pipe line from the Caspian basin, to make money, and a place for my comrades to die with no one caring about what we are dying for. If this country, America, did care the population would educate themselves about what is actually happing in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and the rest of the places that this President wants to flex his muscle. They would ask what are we actually doing there? What are we going to get? Will this work? Is there a better way? And once the war is "over" how best to fix what we went in and broke? This book is a good place to start.
This work started slow as another American do gooder going to Afghanistan and her experiences. It is, but her experience is one of frustration as the American run NGO's are all looking for U.S. Government contracts. How these contracts are awarded and run by people who have no idea what the Afghanis want or need. U.S. Government people who never even asked the population what they needed. Contracts based on a, one man, doing a needs assessment for Afghanistan, but he never left Kabul. How the hell can you assess a countries needs with out visiting the country? For contrast; if you visit London have you seen England? I mean what about Stonehenge, Dover, Stratford on Avon, or Hastings? By visiting London can you say you've seen England? The same can be said about visiting any city and saying you've seen the whole country. For Texans, is The Alamo the only thing to see in TX? No. And you've made my point. But, based on this week long visit to Kabul the U.S. Government has spent Billions on Afghan aid. Aid that comes from the top down.
Top down aid is like trickle down economics. Top Down Aid supplies money to contractors and experts who don't leave the safe zones of Kabul. To be fair these educational, women's rights, Legal, any one NOT building infrastructure for the U.S. Army, experts can't by the rules they work under. As one USAID supervisor told Ann Jones, "I leave the compound with 12 heavily armed GI's in three armored cars. I show up at a school I'll scare these kids to death." These are the real rules our NGO's that work for USAID are under. Miss Jones is a 30ish U.S. women who does not wear a burque and drives around Afghanistan with her and her driver. Sometimes with other foreign women and their translator to various locations all over the country. Never had any problems. Do Aid workers get kidnapped, yes. mostly not by the Taliban but by local gangs who want some of that U.S. cash they see being spent by westerners on fancy food, liquor, women, and expensive homes with security. NOTE: Many of the women in brothels are kidnapped Afghani women who have been sold into prostitution by gangs, Muhajadeen, or their families. Families see girl children as a burden so selling them to traffickers is a good deal for the father. I digress. Afghanistan is not or was not as dangerous at the time this book was written as CNN, BBC, CBS, or the rest would have the U.S public believe. Much of our Aid was and will continue to be wasted on experts who are American, American sponsored, or American corporations on these top down plans. Americans who are not allowed out into the country side for fear they will get kidnapped or killed. Americans who have no idea what is actually needed by Afghanistan to make it work. Americans who's corporate sponsor is more concerned about making progress mile stones than actually educating, providing health care, building roads, or any of a plethora of things that are needed to repair Afghanistan.
The moral of this work is we have and are continuing to fail the Afghanis.
Before I finish a comment about the latest news from Afghanistan. The Trump Administration is working on finalizing a deal to with draw U.S. forces from Afghanistan. A deal with the Taliban. Now as bad as USAID and the way it is distributed is giving the county back to illiterate religious fanatics is a bad idea. Women will be forced back to the home. Education will go back to the zealot Madras. The country will go back to a civil war. And in ten years a large number of religious fanatics will come out of the Khyber Pass and enter the west. All for an oil pipe line from the Caspian to Karachi. SP ask your self should the U.S. give Afghanistan back to the Taliban or should we fix our USAID problem? Should we keep giving money away to corporate America for top down fixes that aren't working or go to grass root efforts that are cheaper and have a history of being successful?
When we invade back in 2002, I told my troops that this was the beginning of a 100 to 150 year work to get these people to stop killing each other and call a cop. The U.S. has shown that we aren't interested in actually creating viable states. We are interested in providing a trough for the military industrial complex to get rich. A place for big oil, that pipe line from the Caspian basin, to make money, and a place for my comrades to die with no one caring about what we are dying for. If this country, America, did care the population would educate themselves about what is actually happing in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and the rest of the places that this President wants to flex his muscle. They would ask what are we actually doing there? What are we going to get? Will this work? Is there a better way? And once the war is "over" how best to fix what we went in and broke? This book is a good place to start.
marcella's review
3.0
This book was hard to read because it painted such a vivid picture of an entirely bleak and hopeless reality. I learned a lot about Afghan history, culture, and current (ish) affairs, but it was really sad. You can tell the author was angry and frustrated by that she found, and she did a good job of explaining the causes of that.
More...