Reviews for A journey through Afghanistan

The average rating for A journey through Afghanistan based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-02-05 00:00:00 Nina Schjnsby This review was written before 9/11. One of my favourite books on Afghanistan. Chaffetz's book "A Journey through Afghanistan: A Memorial" is the last in my trilogy of readings on Afghanistan for this year. First, I read about Nic Danzinger's travels through the area in recent years. Next, I jumped back to the 1950's and 1960's with Sir Wilfred Thesiger's--"Among the Mountains". I finished with Chaffetz's "A Journey Through Afghanistan". They are all brilliant, but Chaffetz's book stands out as a scholarly piece and could well be used in anthropological circles for it's in depth study of the urban and nomadic Afghanis prior and during the Russian invasion. The recent drought (1999) that has affected the Hazarajat and Kuchi nomads of Afghanistan was brought that much closer with this book. I had bought this book in the mid-1980's, but between different trips to the Near East--I had forgotten where I left it. As a result, it took me 10 years to actually get around to reading it and after finishing it, I wondered why I hadn't cracked the spline earlier. Chaffetz' style can be a bit off-putting, but his travelling companion is a perfect foil to David's abrasive personality. I would really like to know why Chaffetz was studying Parsi in pre-revolutionary Iran or was that just a cover? Excellent book and great insights into Afghanistan and just when the pro-communist government was getting into place. Unfortunately, at the time of this review, the book had gone out of print. UPDATE: the editor at Chicago UnivPress contacted me and because of my book review in Amazon, and the reader response, they re-published the book in 2001--she sent me the new edition.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-01-16 00:00:00 Mark Cubitt NO SPOILERS – but I do relate some historical events! Through page 70: I am reading another memoir; this time it is about the author and her Afghan family. Fascinating! It starts by describing her father's life. To understand why he simply cannot leave Afghanistan when all logical thinking says they must, it is necessary to understand his past. Most books start with the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. The reader is given a completely different perspective on Afghan life if you start years earlier. This is a wealthy, well educated, privileged Afghan family. The mother is a teacher of Dari; the father is a doctor. Sunnis are more numerous than Shias and thus have a stronger role in the government. The author's family is Shia. The father's political allegiance is to social democracy. The current year is 1978, one year before the Soviet occupation. Here follows a quote about the two servants employed in the household. Both Aushur and Hussein-dod are in their late twenties and single. Hussein-dod cannot read or write. His parents didn't send him to school, he says, because there was no school in the village where he grew up. Aushur has beautiful handwriting. "Like pearls on paper" is how my parents describe it. He studied up to grade eight, he says, but after failing to pass the entry-tp-high-school exam, he couldn't continue. All students are required to pass a national exam before they can graduate to grade nine. Those who fail become dropouts without the chance of return. "It is totally stupid," my father says in fury. "It is part of President Daoud Khan's new plan for a country that needs more schools, not more entry exams."(page 65) By reading this book you come to understand the lives of at least one real Afghan family. You are taught about religious and political conflicts, about yearly celebrations, about the physical beauty of Afghanistan and much, much more. This is how I like to learn history: By the time tea is served, everyone is congratulating each other, cheering the end of Daoud Khan's reign. In 1973, Daoud Khan staged a coup against his cousin Zahir Shah. He ended decades of monarchy and became the first Afghan president. At the time, Daoud Khan was supported by the leftist parties. But after consolidating his power, Daoud declared the republic a one-party state – with no prospect of elections or introduction of a party law. His Marxist allies felt betrayed; they concluded that Daoud had been seduced by Arab and Iranian gold and was distancing himself from the Soviet Union. In April 1977, during a state visit to Moscow, Brezhnev warned Daoud Khan about the increasing number of "Western spies" in Afghanistan. Daoud bluntly replied that Afghanistan would remain free, and that Russia would never be allowed to dictate how the country would be governed. (page 70) The date is April 27, 1978, just one month after the family's visit to MazarE-Sherif for the celebration of the Afghan New Year at the Shrine of Ali, the first acknowledged caliph of the Shias.. Here the family had looked across the border separating Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. So the new Democratic Republic of Afghanistan has been established. It has stronger communist alliances. What I do know of Afghanistan's history is that the Soviet Union will not trust the competence of the new communist leadership anyhow! I do wish my atlas had more detailed information on Afghanistan. Maps in ebooks seem to be terrible, so it doesn't matter that I have found no map in this book. Through page 103: December 1979 the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. During 1978 three presidents were eliminated, none of which were elected by the Afghan people. Then the Soviet invasion finally came….. But how did the Afghans react? Did you know what they did in Kabul: It is past midnight and everyone is asleep. There is a call in the distance – but it is hard to distinguish the words. Like the dim bluish light that seeps from the corner of the curtain, the sound, too, filters through my window. It is moving, growing closer, and I can now make sense of the words. "Allahu Akbar!" God is great. I walk to the balcony. My father is already there, taking in the experience. "Allahu Akbar!" Now we can hear it clearly. We climb to the roof, where we discover that the entire neighbourhood is awake and that several families, standing on their roofs, are already chanting, "Allahu Akbar." We join in. "Allahu Akbar" – all around us is the echo of one clear voice. …… We use the cover of darkness to pour our hearts out with these two words, and with it our vexation. What is most potent? Is it the collectivity of the call, enabling the echo of one's own voice to reach so far? Or is it the sense of relief it provides, the feeling that we are doing something to show our discontent?......... Three nights of Allahu Akbar is our meek response to the nights of planes moving over the Kabul sky, the aircraft that brought the Soviet army here at the end of December. This is our welcome, Afghan style, to the Soviet invasion.(page 103) This is why it is good to continue reading and reading over and aver again about a given historical event. You always pick up another detail that brings the event to life. I imagine that protests will soon be more violent. Back to the book. Through page 173: What can I say? This is the best book I have read about Afghan history during the 1900s, better than The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safeand A Thousand Splendid Suns. You learn history in an intimate fashion. You learn about the differences between and similarities shared by the Sunnis and Shias. You learn about Afghan life during the decade of Soviet occupation. You learn about why the author was drawn to the underground mujahidin resistance groups. I have learned much, much more than that outlined in the books above. And the history id delivered on a person, intimate level: Despite the difficulties of handling visitors, hiding a fugitive, caring for a sick man and trying to find a detainee, the rest of us have to show up at school and work. If we were to miss a few days, our absence would be reported to the authorities. We have to pretend that everything is normal. Just as the war is normal. The pretence of normality is so pervasive that turmoil, physical and mental agony and family rows pass as something quite routine , just as cheating, lying, betrayal, bribery and deception have become normal.(page 173) ********************************************************* In conclusion: The events as they unroll keep you glued to the book. Learning is effortless, and there are so many small details that no fiction novel imparts. How food is prepared in rural villages and in the homes of wealthy Kabulis is described. More than just a clinical description you are confronted with the efforts taken to remain polite and accepting of different routines and manners. The dilemma for us, of course, is how can we eat? All the dishes in our homes were cleaned several times before they were brought to the table. The utensils were sterilized in a pot of boiling water. Fruit and vegetables were soaked in a potassium mix and rinsed with fresh clean water. Mother Fatema was famous among our relatives for cleanliness and care. She never entered the kitchen without washing her hands, as is the routine in most city homes. But my father always demanded that extra attention be paid to hygiene, nutrition and health. And now, just a day away, here we are – so-called modern, urbanized people – driven out of our clean, tidy houses into a world of which we know nothing. With our city attitudes, we think we are above even the kindest and most generous of people simply because we use knives and forks, eat on separate plates and sit around a dining-room table. In reality, we are lost between the two worlds……. Our behaviour is embarrassing, but there is nothing else we can do; we are terrified of falling sick. (page 219-220) I like learning about the potassium mix, but I also like that the author values the kindness and generosity shown to them. I like her humility! And these are my observations: 1. Occupation of another country will never work, even if the occupier tries to bring freedom. 2; Understanding the mujahidin is no simple matter. This book shows you different perspectives. It shows you the authors own difficulty in grappling with the question of where her affiliation lies. 3. Do not turn away from this book, thinking that it is too politically oriented. 4. Afghanistan's recent history has produced very strong women. If you are interested in feminism, read this book. You should know of Malalai and Naseema and many,many others - and of course the author herself! Really, I actually am pushing you to read this book. This goes against all my principles! P.S. The author, Netofer Pazira, is also a journalist and was involved with the filming of the movie Kandahar (director Hassan Tanti). The details of this filming are discussed in the latter part of the book. P.P.S. There are many photos interspersed throughout the book.