The Dust of Kandahar: A Diplomat Among Warriors in Afghanistan

by Jonathan Addleton

Overview

The Dust of Kandahar provides a personal account of one diplomat’s year of service in America’s longest war. Ambassador Addleton movingly describes the everyday human drama of the American soldiers, local tribal dignitaries, government officials, and religious leaders he interacted and worked with in southern Afghanistan. Addleton’s writing is at its most vivid in his firsthand account of the April 2013 suicide bombing outside a Zabul school that killed his translator, a fellow Foreign Service officer, and three American soldiers. The memory of this tragedy lingers over Addleton’s journal entries, his prose offering poignant glimpses into the interior life of a U.S. diplomat stationed in harm’s way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781682470800
Publisher:	Naval Institute Press
Publication date:	11/15/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Jonathan Addleton was born and raised in the mountains of northern Pakistan. A five-time USAID Mission Director (India, Pakistan, Cambodia, Mongolia and Central Asia), he has also served as US Ambassador to Mongolia; USAID Representative to the European Union; and US Senior Civilian Representative to southern Afghanistan.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 August 9

Chapter 2 September 14

Chapter 3 October 35

Chapter 4 November 52

Chapter 5 December 70

Chapter 6 January 84

Chapter 7 February 102

Chapter 8 March 123

Chapter 9 April 135

Chapter 10 May 161

Chapter 11 June 173

Chapter 12 July 189

Chapter 13 August 213

Afterword 233

Acknowledgments 239

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations 241

Glossary 243

Index 245

Editorial Reviews

Ambassador Addleton movingly describes the everyday human drama of the American soldiers, local tribal dignitaries, government officials and religious leaders with whom he interacted and worked in southern Afghanistan…”—The Watch on the Rhine “Ambassador Addleton wrote The Dust of Kandahar in the form of a journal, to better allow readers to immerse themselves in the day-to-day experience of a though assignment.”—Foreign Service Journal “The Dust of Kandahar is fundamentally unlike any other book written on the Afghan campaign. For students of irregular warfare, it offers a perspective on that time and place from a deeply seasoned and brilliant diplomat, assigned to one of the most difficult and dangerous civilian positions in the world. History is what happens. All else is just approximation. With no plot, no thesis, no agenda, and no narrative, The Dust of Kandahar is raw military-diplomatic history at its best.” — Small War Journal “Jonathan Addleton writes with precision and gentle, understated emotion about Afghanistan's endless torment. His memoir is an important, eloquent extension of the brave service he performed for the State Department and his country.”—Thomas Mallon, critic, essayist and novelist, and author of Finale, Henry and Clara,,and A Book of One's Own “Some of the most important work in Afghanistan was done quietly behind the scenes by civilians striving to create a functioning nation that could withstand Taliban assaults. Jonathan Addleton was one of those civilians on the front lines. His journals provide an intimate, important, and illuminating window into the challenges of nation building, the cost of war, and the experience of civilians in the midst of military conflict.” —Max Boot, Council on Foreign Relations, and author of Invisible Armies “Throughout his distinguished career, Ambassador Jonathan Addleton has been an exemplar of what American public service is all about – and of the promise of American leadership. Addleton’s stirring account is as close as any reader can get to diplomacy’s frontlines in the 21st century.” — Bill Burns, former Deputy Secretary of State and current President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace “A profound work of intense humanity . . . very compelling.” —Carter Malkasian, Former Senior Advisor to ISAF, and author of War Comes to Garmser

From the Publisher