The Foreign Service Journal, December 2014

92 DECEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL in the spring of 2013 I wrote the follow- ing: “As I complete a year as senior civil- ian representative to the nine provinces of northern Afghanistan, I see a region that continues to struggle to nd its foot- ing economically, whose security is still tenuous, and which is ghting to nd a place in the nation’s political milieu. “Nothing here is set. But everything is moving in the right direction, and some things could have actually passed the point of no return, all with a future marked by temporary setbacks, not col- lapse. I would be very surprised to return in ve years and nd anything other than another solid block of hard-won prog- ress.” I was writing from the much more hopeful north. If Gall, writing almost exclusively from the south, sees that this contest is still in our interest to win, and is still ours to lose, that is about as close to hopefulness as one gets in this part of the world, and probably worth heeding. Keith Mines is political counselor in Tel Aviv. He served in Kabul during the 2002 loya jirga and was the U.S. senior civilian representative in Mazar-e-Sharif from 2012 to 2013. His previous postings include San Salvador, Port-au-Prince, Budapest, Ottawa, Mexico City, Al Anbar (Iraq) and Washing- ton, D.C. Illuminating the Present e Wars of Afghanistan: Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Con icts and the Failures of Great Powers Peter Tomsen, Public A airs, 2013, $25.99/paperback; $14.99/ebook, 853 pages. R T H. E As Afghanistan, yet again, enters a confused and critical phase, a longer- term view may be helpful. Fortunately Peter Tom- sen’s work is now widely available as a republished paperback and in ebook format with a revised nal chapter. e Wars of Afghani- stan is a timeless, great, meaty tome. And that is a compliment. Its author did more than his share of rotating in and out of di cult posts as an FSO, lastly as ambas- sador to Armenia. But, from 1989 to 1992 he was George H. W. Bush’s special envoy to the Afghan resistance. In his early retirement, it is to Afghanistan that he returns and digs in. ose who wish to understand the present situation there could do no bet- ter than to dig into this book. First, sni around the edges a bit: Contents, Maps and Photos, Introduction, Cast of Charac- ters, the Index. en begin reading, concentrating on areas of particular interest. As you probe through the chapters, check the exten- sive endnotes. e author has done his homework. His personal perceptions are well buttressed. Too much detail? Read on. After the nail-biting Chapter 1 ( Padshahgardi or “ruler rotation”), you may become unexpectedly captivated. e texture of minutiae gives weight to the fabric of the whole book. e book contains 25 chapters in four major parts (Tribal Incubator, Fission, Mission to the Mujahidin, and America and Afghanistan) extending from distant history to current events. e author accessed important open-source materi- als, as well as recently declassi ed State Department and CIA documents, and materials made available from former Soviet sources. e historical narrative illuminates the present. But many readers will turn directly to the latter sections covering the period from the Soviet invasion of 1979 to the very recent past. ere is disarray on the Afghan side throughout the 1980s—Khalq (Peoples) and Parcham (Flag) wings of the Soviet-installed People’s Demo- cratic Party of Afghanistan brutally assas- sinate each other. Factions of the seven Pakistani-anointed resistance parties and those outside them routinely snipe at more than ght their Soviet and PDPA opponents. Afghan disarray is matched on the U.S. side by reactive and intensive shu ing of agencies and individuals. Only Pakistan is consistent. It uses a policy of playing both arsonist and reman inside Afghanistan. Islamabad never lacks direct cross-border engage- ment, but is always fronted by preferred actors— rst Hezb-i-Islami (Gulbuddin Hekmatyar), then, after the Soviet with- drawal and ultimate PDPA defeat, tilting to Taliban (Mullah Omar) and the Quetta Shura. e closer the author comes to the present, the more questions arise con- cerning the relationship between State and CIA; CIA and Pakistan’s Inter-Ser- vices Intelligence directorate (and CIA’s role as “mailman” to the latter); Paki- stan’s animus against India; and, nally, Pakistan’s implausible denial of support for the Taliban. Much of this is current history in the making. Still, Tomsen’s book is the best grounded guide through the thickets. Readers today may jump to the revised last chapter, “ e Way Ahead.” Tomsen has written previously that a