Overview

It is difficult to overstate the chaos of August 2021 for many of those in Afghanistan, particularly those who had worked closely with the international community there. In a matter of days, U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan and an insurgency threw out a government the international community had spent 20 years and billions of dollars supporting. A government that claimed to stand for women’s rights, freedom of the press, education, and a litany of other ideals, was replaced by one that did not allow girls to attend secondary school. The world watched for two weeks as crowds rushed the airport, bodies fell from planes, a suicide bomber killed civilians and soldiers, and a baby was handed to a Marine over a barbed wire wall. The agony of lives so clearly destroyed, as people tried to flee their homeland with little to nothing, felt like images seen in the wake of natural disasters. But this was not a natural disaster. It was completely avoidable. Part memoir and part history, The Last Days of the Afghan Republic tells this story through the experiences of Arsalan, Fatima, Zeinab, and Najeeb: a scholar, a doctor, a student, and a translator. These young men and women had bought into the promise of the international intervention, that if they studied, worked hard, and believed in democracy and human rights, Afghanistan could become a new country. Their lives also tell the story of Afghanistan over the past thirty years. They recount, from the ground up, the political decisions on the American side that led to the “forever war,” the way that Afghan political partners squandered opportunities, and the ways in which the U.S. presence unevenly reshaped Afghan society.

Full Product Details

9781538178089

Table of Contents

Reviews

The Last Days of the Afghan Republic offers nuanced and human portraits of what it is like to be caught between uncaring and mismanaged geopolitical projects and everyday terrorism of the new-old Taliban regime.--Joshua Reno, Binghamton University Very little of the many things written on the country and the war have actually been produced by bona fide experts, and few of those experts have Dr. Coburn's credentials. But more than that, this book is co-authored, and indeed co-created by an Afghan partner with many years of experience working with internationals. I would recommend this to all my colleagues - both Afghan specialist and others. The Last Days of the Afghan Republic brings a much needed and much neglected voice to the discussion of the war.--Benjamin Hopkins, George Washington University

Author Information

Arsalan Noori (pseudonym) is a scholar and social science researcher who has worked with the international community for over 15 years. Noah Coburn (Goddard College) is a socio-cultural anthropologist and a leading authority on the shifting political landscape in Afghanistan. He is the author of Losing Afghanistan: An Obituary for the Intervention. Author website: www.noahcoburn.com

Tab Content 6

Countries Available