The Early Years of Peace Corps in Afghanistan: A Promising Time, by Frances Hopkins Irwin and Will A. Irwin, February 2014 In 1962, nine U.S. Peace Corps volunteers arrived in Kabul. Half a century later, at a critical moment of transition in Afghanistan, this book describes what Peace Corps Volunteers learned during the Cold War about how diversity among peoples can be used to enrich cultures, rather than homogenize or destroy them. Before Peace Corps left Afghanistan in 1979, 1650 volunteers had experienced slices of a rapidly changing Afghanistan. This is the story of the first four years, how, under the guidance of first director Robert L Steiner, the volunteers learned to work within Afghan culture and overcame the initial skepticism of Afghans and the Kabul international community, and how by 1966 Peace Corps had grown from a cautious start with five English teachers, three nurses, and a mechanic all in Kabul to 200 volunteers working in all parts of Afghanistan. Fran and Will Irwin frame the story around conversations with Bob Steiner, who brought his ability to speak Persian and his experience growing up and working as a U.S. cultural affairs officer in Iran to building the Peace Corps program in Afghanistan. They draw on their own experience as volunteers, the recollections of other volunteers and staff members, and materials from personal and public records. The book includes 80 pages of writing by volunteers in Afghanistan for now hard-to-find 1960s publications as well as two dozen photographs and a discussion of sources. "The authors have prepared a book of historic significance for the Peace Corps." Foreword by Saif R. Samady, former Deputy Minister of Education in Afghanistan "What makes this book a must-read-for Afghans, Americans, and others interested in international cooperation-is that it provides an example of an appreciated and cost-effective aid program, one that worked." Nour Rahimi, former Editor of the Kabul Times "A Promising Time is thus an essential work for anyone interested in the history of American/Afghan relations." Carl H. Klaus, Founding Director, University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program

For the first time, the story of Afghanistan prior to, and during, the communist coup of 1979 is told from the perspective of an American working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Afghanistan.

In 1971, Arthur Panaro joined the Peace Corps and was posted to Kabul, Afghanistan, to teach English at the University there. A year later, he was joined by his brother Adrian and the two set off to explore the regions surrounding Kabul and beyond. In the process, they shared a camera to record their impressions of the land and its people. This book documents their journey in photographs and essays.

Learn about how traditional children's songs of Afghanistan sound and what they mean.

If you want to understand Afghanistan, writes Carter Malkasian, you need to understand what has happened on the ground, in the villages and countryside that were on the frontline. These small places are the heart of the war. Modeled on the classic Vietnam War book, War Comes to Long An, Malkasian's War Comes to Garmser promises to be a landmark account of the war in Afghanistan. The author, who spent nearly two years in Garmser, a community in war-torn Helmand province, tells the story of this one small place through the jihad, the rise and fall of Taliban regimes, and American and British surge. Based on his conversations with hundreds of Afghans, including government officials, tribal leaders, religious leaders, and over forty Taliban, and drawing on extensive primary source material, Malkasian takes readers into the world of the Afghans. Through their feuds, grievances, beliefs, and way of life, Malkasian shows how the people of Garmser have struggled for three decades through brutal wars and short-lived regimes. Beginning with the victorious but destabilizing jihad against the Soviets and the ensuing civil war, he explains how the Taliban movement formed; how, after being routed in 2001, they returned stronger than ever in 2006; and how Afghans, British, and Americans fought with them thereafter. Above all, he describes the lives of Afghans who endured and tried to build some kind of order out of war. While Americans and British came and went, Afghans carried on, year after year. Afghanistan started out as the good war, the war we fought for the right reasons. Now for many it seems a futile military endeavor, costly and unwinnable. War Comes to Garmser offers a fresh, original perspective on this war, one that will redefine how we look at Afghanistan and at modern war in general.

A compelling, intimate account of how US foreign assistance in war zones and developing countries does not achieve its intended goals. From the hot savannah of Malawi to the cold, damp gray of Kosovo and into the volatile war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States and other donors have invested enormous financial and human resources in major peacekeeping and development efforts. Why then is the world no closer to being a “better and safer” place? Both a salient critique of US foreign assistance and a thought-provoking memoir, Flash Points describes the issues with personnel, language, and gender dynamics, as well as the cross-cultural challenges that often undermine and betray the best intentions of policy makers comfortably situated in Washington. Revealed in illuminating flashbacks, Jade Wu recalls her experiences in each of these four countries highlighting how, all too often, Americans in the field and the US government were unable to learn the lessons that ought to have been learned when dealing with host countries and their people. The final results were efforts poorly conceived and executed and, ultimately, detrimental to American national interests. “Flash Points should be required reading for professionals in foreign assistance programs and could be used in formal training programs for aid workers before heading abroad. It will also interest the general reader. Many will find it a fascinating story of one woman’s experiences abroad. By leaving many pages with illuminating quoted dialogue, all readers will be lured on through Jade Wu’s adventures, right up to the final ‘flashback.’” — Robert W. Maule, Retired US Senior Foreign Service Officer “While there are a variety of books on the subject, few offer the unique perspective of the author who has been a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa and worked in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, countries where there have been major military, peacekeeping, and development efforts and investments. Wu’s perspective is that of an objective, critical observer who has worked in the trenches. Her observations are well-informed, astute, and compel the reader to think carefully about the ways in which this country often wastes enormous resources—including human lives—in efforts that are ill-conceived.” — Thomas R. Carter, Retired Senior Advisor, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations