The Foreign Service Journal, November 2014

36 NOVEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL history of Adams and Louverture also demonstrates the power of individual leaders during key moments in history. “John Adams’ presidency and Saint Domingue’s revolution- ary regime rarely get the attention they deserve in explaining the acquisition of Louisiana and shifts in the slavery debates in the United States,” says historian Nancy Isenberg, adding that Johnson’s book is “a fascinating and original study of diplomacy across the color line.” Ronald Angelo Johnson is an assistant professor of history at Texas State University. He has served as a U.S. diplomat in Gabon and Luxembourg, and has worked as an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. He is also associate minister at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. POLICYAND ISSUES Talking to Strangers: The Struggle to Rebuild Iraq’s Foreign Ministry Ghassan Muhsin Hussein and David Dunford, Southwestern College Academic Press, 2013, $18.95/paperback, $12/Kindle, 212 pages. The existential threat posed by the Islamic State group underscores just how far Iraq still has to go to recover from the 2003 U.S. invasion. Against that backdrop, Talking to Strangers: The Struggle to Rebuild Iraq’s Foreign Ministry has only become more prescient in the year since its publication. The task on which Iraqi Ambassador Ghassan Muhsin Hus- sein (no relation to Saddam Hussein) and retired U.S. Ambas- sador David Dunford collaborated after the American military victory was daunting but relatively straightforward, at least on paper: reconstituting the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, essentially from scratch. Working under the aegis of the U.S. Office of Recon- struction and Humanitarian Assistance, the pair initially made considerable progress at professionalizing Iraqi diplomacy. But then ORHA made the colossally shortsighted decision to bar all senior members of the Baath Party from holding any position within the Iraqi government. Amb. Hussein, who had spurned enticements to join the ruling party, retained his post, but the directive quickly stripped the foreign ministry and other Iraqi offices of their most experienced civil servants, with dire consequences for the society’s stability. Reviewing Talking to Strangers in the March FSJ , Jack Binns hails the book as “a most valuable addition to the literature about working-level diplomacy and governance.” Ambassador Ghassan Muhsin Hussein is a retired Iraqi career diplomat and artist. Ambassador David Dunford, an adjunct instructor at the University of Arizona’s School of Government and Public Policy, retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1995 after a distinguished career. He worked for the Coalition Provi- sional Authority in Baghdad from April to June 2003. Counterinsurgency in Eastern Afghanistan, 2004-2008: A Civilian Perspective Robert Kemp, Vellum/New Academia, 2014, $26/paperback; $9.99/ebook, 246 pages. In this authoritative overview, Rob- ert Kemp looks at the U.S. and allied engagement in Afghanistan following the 2001 ouster of the Taliban. Drawing on his experience on the ground, Kemp gives a firsthand, unfiltered view of how U.S. military and civilian officers coped with a confusing, constantly changing situation. He analyzes the policies and practices the allies developed while learning to work with the Afghans—and each other—and offers lessons learned. Kemp also looks at the insurgency—how it gained momen- tum beginning in 2005, turning into a multifaceted challenge involving groups such as the Taliban, the Haqqani network and al-Qaida. He describes the complexities of the border with Paki- stan, tribal and ethnic relations, poppy and opium production, corruption and how the army and police developed. The book is “a must-read for all those following develop- ments in Afghanistan since 2001,” says Arturo Muñoz of the Rand Corporation. “It succeeds both as thoughtful analysis and as a practical guide for military and civilian personnel in the field.” With a foreword by Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann, Counterinsurgency in Eastern Afghanistan, 2004-2008: A Civilian Perspective is part of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training’s Memoirs and Occasional Papers series. FSO Robert Kemp served in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2005, from 2007 to 2008 and for two shorter assignments. He was deputy director of the Pakistan desk in Washington, D.C., and also completed several short-term assignments in Pakistan. He has also served in China, the Philippines, Belgium, Bolivia and Brazil.