Afghanistan: a country blessed and benighted
Lyse Doucet reports on the Afghan elections in 2009
BBC World Service
A former ambassador reflects that the lesson of history is that history teaches no lessons
The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan
LYSE DOUCET
(HUTCHINSON HEINEMANN, 448 PP, £25)
TABLET BOOKSHOP PRICE £22.50 • TEL 020 7799 4064
This is a remarkable book about a remarkable institution in a remarkable country by a remarkable journalist. It should be read, and reread, by every “statesman”, politician, diplomat and op-ed writer who has pontificated about Afghanistan since that country came back on to the radar screens of the West in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. And for those who have not been so presumptuous as to suppose that they knew what was best for Afghanistan, Lyse Doucet’s new book will be an enjoyable if at times deeply upsetting read, a reminder that, however much we human beings study history, we seldom learn from it.
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