The Taliban Shuffle : Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan

From War correspondent Barker first started reporting from Afghanistan in 2003, when the war there was lazy and insignificant. She was just learning to navigate Afghan culture, one caught between warring factions, and struggling to get space in her newspaper, the Chicago Tribune. Lulled into complacency, everyone from the U.S. military to the Afghan diplomatic corps to the Pakistani government stumbled as the Taliban regrouped. Very frank and honest, Barker admits a host of mistakes, including gross cultural ignorance that often put her in danger even as she found Afghanistan similar in some ways to Montana, her home state, what with 'bearded men in pickup trucks stocked with guns and hate for the government.' She reports a string of characters: an amorous Pakistani former prime minister, a flashy Afghan American diplomat, an assortment of warlords, drug lords, fundamentalists, politicians, and fellow correspondents struck by wanderlust and plagued by messy personal lives'all of them against a backdrop of declining war coverage in declining American newspapers. A personal, insightful look at covering an ambivalent war in a complicated region. --Vanessa Bush Review Praise for The Taliban Shuffle Whats remarkable about_The Taliban Shuffle_is that its author, Kim Barker, has written an account of her experiences covering Afghanistan and Pakistan that manages to be hilarious and harrowing, witty and illuminating, all at the same time Ms. Barker has discovered a voice in these pages that enables her to capture both the serious and the seriously absurd conditions in Af-Pak (Afghanistan and Pakistan), and the surreal deal of being a female reporter there, with dating problems ranging from the screwball (a boyfriend competing to cover the same story) to the ridiculous (being romantically pursued by the former prime minister of Pakistan). Black humor, it turns out, is a perfect tool for capturing the sad-awful-frequently-insane incongruities of war. The Taliban Shuffle , in fact, reads like a rollicking and revealing mashup of Imperial Life in the Emerald City (Rajiv Chandrasekarans devastating 2006 portrait of the unreal world of Iraqs Green Zone), War Reporting for Cowards (Chris Ayress entertaining 2005 account of being a newbie war reporter for The Times of London ) and Robert Altmans darkly satiric 1970 movie MASH , with a bit of Evelyn Waugh-esque satiric verve thrown in for good measure. Michiko Kakutani, _ The New York Times The Taliban Shuffle_ is part war memoir, part tale of self-discovery that, thanks to Barker's biting honesty and wry wit, manages to be both hilarious and heartbreaking. The Chicago Tribune "Brilliant, tender, and unexpectedly hilarious." _Marie Claire _ "[An] immensely entertaining memoir." _The Boston Globe _ Irresistibly spunky.Barkers memoir is what youd hear if the reporter never turned off the voice recorder between interviewsbrilliant firsthand outtakes that wind up telling us more about the Afghan debacle than any foreign policy briefing. The Seattle Times "Politically astute and clearly influenced by Hunter S. Thompson, Barker provides sharp commentary on the impotence of American foreign policy in South Asia Fierce, funny and unflinchingly honest. _ Kirkus _ A candid and darkly comic account of her eight years as an international correspondent for the Chicago Tribune With self-deprecation and a keen eye for the absurd, Barker describes her evolution from a green, fill-in correspondent to an adrenaline junkie In equal measure, Barker elucidates the deep political ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the U.S.s role in todays whiplash between secularism and extremism, and blasts Pakistans leaders for destroying their nation through endless coups and power jockeying. _Publishers Weekly_ "Reporter Kim Barker immersed herself in Afghanistan and Pakistan for nine years and returned with stories that poignantly reflect her deep love for both countriesand important insights into what went wrong. With dark, self-deprecating humor and shrewd insight, Barker chronicles her experiences as a rookie foreign reporter and the critical years in which the Taliban resurged amidst the collapse of the Afghan and Pakistani governments." _The Daily Beast _ "Kim Barker's memoir about her five years covering Afghanistan and Pakistan for the Chicago Tribune is brave, funny and outrageous...._The Taliban Shuffle_ will pull you in so deep that youll smell the poppies and quake from the bombs." _ The Minneapolis Star Tribune _ Read this and try not to hurt yourself laughing. Who knew war could be so funny? The Taliban Shuffle isnt like any other book out there about Afghanistan and Pakistan. Its witty, brilliant, and impossible to put down. Think P. J. ORourke meets Paul Theroux. Kim Barker is a gifted storyteller, and her intrepid, sometimes wacky travels through these two strife-torn nations will leave you informed, amused, anddepending on your sense of adventurewanting to tag along on her next trip. Rajiv Chandrasekaran, author of Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraqs Green Zone _The Taliban Shuffle_ is Scoop meets Dispatches , remixed with a twenty-first-century Bollywood soundtrack. Laugh-out-loud funny, it is the true story of what it is like to be a female journalist in one of the world's most exotic war zones, while telling the reader much about what is really going on today in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden and The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and Al-Qaeda Yes, there are bombs. And there is carnage. And all sorts of mayhem. But mostly there are people, human beings even, with appetitesfor life, for adventure, for riches, for love. Ms. Barker offers this worldthe human world caught in the crosshairs of historywith a vitality rarely seen in accounts of the war. A compelling read that offers readers a glimpse of the goings-on behind the byline. J. Maarten Troost, author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals Kim Barker gives a true and amusing picture of hellholes and the reporters on assignment in them. But she breaks the journo code of silence and reveals a trade secret of the hacks who cover hellholes: The hell of the holes is that theyre kind of fun. P. J. O'Rourke A true-life Catch-22 set in the deeply dysfunctional countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, by one of the region's longest-serving correspondents. Kim Barker is not your typical, impassive foreign correspondent--she is candid, self-deprecating, laugh-out-loud funny. At first an awkward newbie in Afghanistan, she grows into a wisecracking, seasoned reporter with grave concerns about our ability to win hearts and minds in the region. In The Taliban Shuffle, Barker offers an insider's account of the "forgotten war" in Afghanistan and Pakistan, chronicling the years after America's initial routing of the Taliban, when we failed to finish the job. When Barker arrives in Kabul, foreign aid is at a record low, electricity is a pipe dream, and of the few remaining foreign troops, some aren't allowed out after dark. Meanwhile, in the vacuum left by the U.S. and NATO, the Taliban is regrouping as the Afghan and Pakistani governments floun?der. Barker watches Afghan police recruits make a travesty of practice drills and observes the disorienting turnover of diplomatic staff. She is pursued romantically by the former prime minister of Pakistan and sees adrenaline-fueled col?leagues disappear into the clutches of the Taliban. And as her love for these hapless countries grows, her hopes for their stability and security fade. Swift, funny, and wholly original, The Taliban Shuffle unforgettably captures the absurdities and tragedies of life in a war zone. From the Hardcover edition