Customer Reviews
Biased and opinionated - By: Douglas Newell, 14 Aug 2008 
This book doesn't do what it says on the cover. "The Real Story of the warin Afghanistan" its says on the cover. No, rather it is the story of the author's decision to write about the war - the over long prologue tells the story of one of his friends who wasin the militaryin afghanistan & how his disillusionment pushed him to look further into the situation - what he found out & his opinion of it all. This is peppered with a selection of tales from soldiers involvedin the fighting but if you are looking for "the story of the war" then i'd go elsewhere.
Muddling Through - By: Charles Vasey, 19 Jul 2008 
James Fergusson has set out to cover a number of tangential matters than combine to point out the lack of a coherence & reality to NATO policyin Afghanistan, especially as this is applied by the British Army.
He tends to travelin the backwaters. Instead of the much rated 3 Para he visits the Ghurkhas & Royal Fusiliers from the 3 Para Battlegroup shut awayin some unsupported location getting shot at by the Taleban & unable to perform their mission of reconstruction.
He examines the practical difficulties of a small force of military professionals trying to bring peace to an area by bringing war. The difficulties of persuading the locals that the corrupt & brutal police & Afghan Army are to be supported are laid out; asin the difficulty of making the police & army anything but corrupt when they are underpaid & undertrained. It's a real muddle.
By comparing the units supporting two helicopter types (Chinooks & Apaches) Fergusson can make valuable points about the under-funding of the effort & (perhaps more important) the underinvestmentin keeping skilled personnel. Just having the best kit is no answer when service
personnel are condemned to long tours & divorces. But looking at the armour kit used by the cavalry one can see thatin some cases it is not only old but designed for different operational conditions (mostly the North German Plain).
Fergusson travels to meet & talk to the Taliban, he clearly respects them & feels they need to be part of the solution. This has been the view of a number of British officials but is apparently not acceptablein the eyes of the more manichean Americans.
Although at times Fergusson seems rather innocent it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that he is on to something. There is only one thing worse than fighting a war with allies; & that is fighting one without any.
The Scary Truth - By: SEG, 13 Jun 2008 Gripping book which gives an accurate & disturbing insight into what our soldiers(the Gurkhas, the Fusiliers, the Royal Irish, the Household Cavalry & the RAF), are faced within Afghanistan. Its disturbing to see just how under funded & under prepared our troops are when posted to such a hostile environment. Together with the lack of collaberation between all allies involed this book really does paint a picture that this is a war with no easy fix & a war that we could very well lose if we continuein the same vain.
Brilliant book & am looking forward to reading 3 Para for the Paras perspective of it all.
