The Valley's Edge: A Year With the Pashtuns in the Heartland of the Taliban

by Green, Daniel R.; Neumann, Ronald E.; McMaster, H. R. (AFT)

• ISBN13: 9781597976947
• ISBN10: 1597976946
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-11-30
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

In this gripping, first-hand account, Dan Green tells the story of U.S. efforts to oust the Taliban insurgency from the desolate southern Afghan province of Uruzgan. Nestled between the Hindu Kush Mountains and the sprawling wasteland of the Margow and Khash Deserts, Uruzgan is a microcosm of U.S. efforts to prevent Afghanistan from falling to the Taliban insurgency and Islamic radicalism. Green, who served in Uruzgan in 2005'¬ ;2006 as a U.S. Department of State political adviser to a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), reveals how unrealistic expectations, a superficial understanding of the Afghans, and a lack of resources contributed to the Taliban'¬"s resurgence in the area. He discusses the PRT'¬"s good governance efforts, its reconstruction and development projects, the violence of the insurgency, and the PRT'¬"s attempts to manage its complex relationship with the local warlord cumgovernor of the province. Upon returning to Afghanistan in 2009'¬ ;2010 with the U.S. military, and while working at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, he discovered that although many improvements had been made since he had last served in Afghanistan, the enduring problems he experienced in Uruzgan continued despite the transition in Washington, D.C., from the Bush administration to the Obama administration.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Preface	p. xvii
Uruzgan Province Time Line	p. xxi
List of Abbreviations	p. xxiii
Welcome to the U.S. Government	p. 1
Afghanistan	p. 11
Uruzgan: The Heart of Asia	p. 21
A Provincial Affair {Tarin KowtùSpring 2005)	p. 39
A Visit to the Green Zone {ChoraùSpring 2005)	p. 67
The New Regime (Tarin KowtùSummer 2005)	p. 79
Journey to Chenartu (ChoraùSummer 2005)	p. 89
The Thin Black Line (Tarin KowtùSummer 2005)	p. 95
Bringing Democracy to the Pashtuns (Tarin KowtùFall 2005)	p. 115
Uruzgan's Bloody Past (Tarin KowtùFall 2005)	p. 127
The War Returns (Tarin KowtùSummer 2006)	p. 147
The Good Samaritan (ChoraùSummer 2006)	p. 165
The Dutch Take Over (Tarin KowtùSummer 2006)	p. 177
Interregnum (2006-2008)	p. 183
Afghanistan (2009-2011)	p. 189
Epilogue	p. 213
Afterword	p. 217
Tarin Kowt: Some Ideas on Leadership Change in Uruzgan Province	p. 221
Counterinsurgency in Uruzgan Province: The Political Dimension	p. 227
Notes	p. 235
Index	p. 37
About the Author	p. 245
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