Afghan Napoleon

Sandy Gall is a journalist, author, documentary producer, and newscaster. He has reported from conflict zones across the world and is the recipient of many awards for his journalism and documentary work. Rory Stewart was the UK Secretary of State for International Development and is currently a senior fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University.

• Introduction by Rory Stewart // ixAuthor's Note // xviTranslator's Note // xixPrologue // 11. The British 'Find' Massoud // 32. Were We Nearly Shot?: Meeting Massoud // 93. The Boy Who Loved Playing Soldiers // 194. The Coup that Failed: Exile in Pakistan // 265. Bombed by the Russians in the Panjsher // 346. The Russians Propose a Ceasefire // 517. Massoud Deals with the Russians // 618. Marriage and War // 859. Defeat and Failure: 'Am I Afraid of Death?' // 9010. The Russian Perspective // 11211. A Winter Offensive // 11712. Massoud Takes Farkhar // 13813. Expanding in the North // 14914. The Russians Prepare to Withdraw // 16215. Massoud Captures Kabul // 17916. Under Siege: Massoud in Kabul // 18917. Tea and Rockets with the Taliban // 21118. Mortal Enemies // 22519. Massoud Retreats from Kabul // 22820. A Low Ebb // 23421. 'My Father was Incorruptible' // 26122. Massoud Visits Euurope // 26923. How They Killed Massoud // 27424. The Eve of Assassination // 29025. A Final Encounter // 299Epilogue // 309Acknowledgements // 315Select Bibliography // 317Notes // 319Index // 341

"A new book drawing on... years of reporting from Afghanistan and Massoud's personal diaries."-- "Diplomat" "Ahmad Shah Massoud was one of the greatest military commanders of the 20th century and was instrumental in forcing the Soviets to retreat from Afghanistan in 1989. Yet, he is now barely known in the West. That will surely change as a result of Gall's authoritative, beautifully written and deeply reported biography of Massoud."--Peter Bergen, author of The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden "Gall's knowledge of the jihad is encyclopaedic. He was the first well-known journalist to make the dangerous journey into occupied Afghanistan and bring the human cost of this terrible war to our TV screens. To produce such a book at the age of 93 deserves admiration. . . .A strength of Gall's book is its detailed discussion of Pakistan's malign interference in Afghanistan, where the Taliban are their proxy force."--Matthew Leeming "Spectator" "I can think of no one better than the legendary foreign correspondent Sandy Gall to tell the compelling story of Ahmad Shah Massoud's extraordinary life and death. . . . Gall weaves analysis, first-hand reporting and primary sources into a brilliant and important book."--Jeremy Bowen "The unputdownable story of an authentic Afghan hero by one of the greatest chroniclers of modern Afghanistan's travails, and occasional triumphs."--Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, former British Ambassador to Afghanistan, and British Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan "This book is essential reading for those who want an insider's understanding of the Afghan civil war."-- "Literary Review" "This is a remarkable book, both a coruscating memoir by Gall and a revealing insight into a guerrilla leader--one whose reputation ranks with the icons of revolutionary insurgency and whose thinking is here revealed in his own words."--Hew Strachan "When conceived several years ago, the book was planned as the largely admiring record of one of the great might-have-beens of history, and also-obliquely-as the last testament of the gallant Sandy Gall himself, who will be 94 in October. It remains both of those things, but the events of the past fortnight also give an urgency to the story."--Charles Moore "Telegraph" "With the West's own military venture in Afghanistan now unravelling, Gall's book serves two timely purposes. One is to retell Massoud's legendary campaign against the Soviets, which saw him dubbed 'the Afghan who won the Cold War'. The other, though, is to ask whether more Western support for him in the 1990s could have led to a better Afghanistan."--Colin Freeman "Telegraph" "Afghan Napoleon: The Life of Ahmad Shah Massoud by British journalist Sandy Gall, dedicated to Afghanistan's illustrious statesman, is a remarkable undertaking that delves into the multifaceted intricacies of a nation devastated by war and ruined by its adverse geography."-- "Eurasia Review" "Afghan Napoleon offers an overdue portrait of one of the most remarkable figures of the twentieth century. Napoleon tried to conquer the world; Massoud by contrast fought the world-scale Soviet empire to a stand still on behalf of his people from a tiny valley in Afghanistan. In this book we see, not just the daily nuts and bolts of his military genius but catch glimpses of the social graces and the warmth that made this man so beloved among his followers."--Tamim Ansary, author of The Invention of Yesterday: A 50,000-Year History of Human Culture, Conflict, and Connection