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The Punishment of Virtue
Sarah Chayes
Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban
Penguin
August 2006
On Sale: August 17, 2006
400 pages
ISBN: 1594200963
EAN: 9781594200960
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Memoir
A National Public Radio reporter covering the last stand of
the Taliban in their home base of Kandahar in Afghanistan's
southern borderland, Sarah Chayes became deeply immersed in
the unfolding drama of the attempt to rebuild a broken
nation at the crossroads of the world's destiny. Her NPR
tour up in early 2002, she left reporting to help turn the
country's fortunes, accepting a job running a nonprofit
founded by President Hamid Karzai's brother. With remarkable
access to leading players in the postwar government, Chayes
witnessed a tragic story unfold-the perverse turn of events
whereby the U.S. government and armed forces allowed and
abetted the return to power of corrupt militia commanders to
the country, as well as the reinfiltration of bands of
Taliban forces supported by U.S. ally Pakistan. In this
gripping and dramatic account of her four years on the
ground, working with Afghanis in the battle to restore their
country to order and establish democracy, Chayes opens
Americans' eyes to the sobering realities of this vital
front in the war on terror. She forged unparalleled relationships with the Karzai
family, tribal leaders, U.S. military and diplomatic brass,
and such leading figures in the Kandahar government as the
imposing and highly effective chief of police-an
incorruptible supporter of the Karzai regime whose brutal
assassination in June 2005 serves as the opening of the
book. Chayes lived in an Afghan home, gaining rich insights
into the country's culture and politics and researching the
history of Afghanistan's legendary resistance to foreign
interference. She takes us into meetings with Hamid Karzai
and the corrupt Kandahar governor, Gul Agha Shirzai, into
the homes of tribal elders and onto the U.S. military base.
Unveiling the complexities and traumas of Afghanistan's
postwar struggles, she reveals how the tribal strongmen who
have regained power-after years of being displaced by the
Taliban-have visited a renewed plague of corruption and
violence on the Afghan people, under the complicit eyes of
U.S. forces and officials. The story Chayes tells is a powerful, disturbing revelation
of misguided U.S. policy and of the deeply entrenched
traditions of tribal warlordism that have ruled Afghanistan
through the centuries.
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