by Graeme Smith
This book would not have been possible without the resources and leadership of The Globe and Mail, a great Canadian newspaper. Stephen Northfield served as foreign editor during most of my years as a correspondent, and often my only job in Kandahar was to serve as a conduit between his brilliant mind and our talented Afghan staff. The rest of the foreign desk during that period—especially Susan Sachs, Philippe Devos, Christine Mushka, Linda Hossie and Shelley Cathers—saved me from embarrassment more times than I can remember. I had too many generous colleagues to list them, but I leaned especially hard on Paul Koring, Mark MacKinnon, Geoffrey York, Doug Saunders, Stephanie Nolen, Eric Reguly, Les Perreaux, Gloria Galloway, Steven Chase, Christine Diemert, Kathryn Mills, Karim Bardeesy, Jane Armstrong, Sue Andrew, Tim Appleby, Jeffrey Simpson, Murray Campbell, Sonia Verma, Jessica Leeder, Anthony Reinhart, Tu Thanh Ha, Colin Freeze, Joe Friesen, Patrick White and Greg McArthur. I also appreciated Christie Blatchford, my friendly adversary. Special thanks to Phillip Crawley and Edward Greenspon for approving the budget required to keep a correspondent in Kandahar. Thanks to Paul Knox, the foreign editor who first sent me overseas, and especially to Sylvia Stead, who watched over me.
I fell into journalism at The Eyeopener, the campus newspaper at Ryerson University, and my old colleagues feel like family: Liane McLarty, Kenny Yum, Sean Fitz-Gerald, Caroline Alphonso, Shane Dingman, Stephanie Bomba, Lori Fazari, Tim Fraser, Renata D’Aliesio, Ka Yan Ng, Michael Friscolanti and the rest of the gang. Nor could I have survived the newspaper trade without mentors: Tim Falconer, Lynn Cunningham, Julian Sher, Michelle Shephard and Rick MacInnes-Rae, among others.
I spent time with military forces from several countries, and was impressed by their hospitality, but the Canadian military stood above the rest because of its uniquely open system of embedding. Journalists could eat breakfast with the troops, walk off the base and have lunch with insurgents, then get back to the military mess hall for dinner. The fact that the Canadian military remained so helpful to journalists—in the face of political backlash—was a remarkable choice of principle over expediency. The military viewed me as a tough critic (my best friend among the officers called me “Darth Vader”) but I can’t remember a harsh word from any of the personnel. They remained polite, diligent and professional. I won’t tarnish their careers by naming any of them, but I deeply admire many of the soldiers and officers who served in Afghanistan.
The same is true of the diplomats and United Nations staff. Chris Alexander, in particular, deserves thanks for explaining the optimistic view of the war with intelligence and rigor, no matter how much I disagreed.
Thanks to Asadullah Khalid for taking criticism with good humour.
Thanks to Richard Madan, Micaela White and Kiran Kothari for keeping my spirits up, and to Serif Turgut for her generous read of the book.
Deepest thanks to May Jeong—for the title, the careful editing and much else.
Most of the work on this manuscript happened at the Ritim Galata Cafe in Istanbul; the library of the Aman New Delhi; and the Dark Horse Espresso Bar and Balzac’s Coffee, at their locations in eastern Toronto. I’m grateful for their tolerance of a squatter with a laptop.
Most importantly, I would like to thank my family: my parents Stewart Smith and Lynn Gresham, and my sister Caitlin Smith, the brilliant music composer. It wasn’t easy for them, getting occasional calls over crackling phone lines, or a few hasty e-mails. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
And apologies, to those I’ve forgotten.
Graeme Smith works as a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group, supervising a small team in Afghanistan. He previously served as a foreign correspondent for Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, with postings in Moscow (2005), Kandahar (2006–2009), Delhi (2010) and Istanbul (2011). He also worked as an adjunct scholar for the US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. His awards include three National Newspaper Awards, Canada’s highest prize for print journalism, and the annual Michener Award for public service given by the Governor General of Canada. He also won an Emmy in 2009, for a video series that recorded the opinions of Taliban fighters. He lives in Kabul.