End Of An Era

The withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2014, leaving behind about 10000 odd soldiers for training and limited operations, in a sense symbolizes the end of an era. An era that has spanned over two and a half decades beginning with the departure of the Soviets from Afghanistan,the civil war, the Taliban era and the intervention by USA and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on the heels of the 9/11attacks. This signal event, rather its anticipation, has thrown up opportunities for writers; two that readily come to mind are The Wrong Enemy by Carlotta Gall, and No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and The War Through Afghan Eyes by Anand Gopal. Vishal Chandra’s book The Unfinished War In Afghanistan 2001–2014, is one of them