"The Places In Between" by Rory Stewart

This book was a thoroughly enjoyable and quick read. While 300 pages in length, the author does a good job of breaking chapters into his visits to individual towns and people.

This book is a story about a Scottish historian, who walks across Afghanistan just months after the fall of the Taliban. His journey takes him from Herat (near the Iranian border), to Kabul, near the Pakistani border, and through the center of the country.

Afghanistan is a country which is dominated by Islam and tribes. Especially through the center of the country, there is a significant Shia population and, as you might recall from some of the other entries I have made about other books on the region, has been heavily influenced by imperialism for thousands of years.

Now this doesn't mean that the imperial powers have been successful in taming this country, of course. But it does mean that it came into conatct with people like Alexander the Great and Ghengis Khan. It was invaded by Britain 3 times, all in an effort to keep out the Russians. It was invaded by the Russians to protect the installation of a Communist government (and likely secure a route to the Indian Ocean) and now by the Americans, to keep out al-Qaeda.

With all this history, I am sure you are thinking that what the average Afghani wants is a pluralistic democracy with freedom and human rights. Mr. Stewart tells us that this is totally absent from the minds of most Afghanis he met. In fact, most probably just want to be left alone. They want to be able to travel down a dirt road without fear of blowing up by stepping on a landmine. They probably want to be able to farm and trade. Yes, some just want to kill most everything, but most want something more simplistic.

This is not to say they are a peaceful people. They still engage in blood feuds with neighboring rivals. But I would suspect this is not a danger to our national security.

I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading about tribal culture and a part of the world that is very much in the news of late.