No Good Men Among the Living

In No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes, journalist Anand Gopal delves into the shocking true story of America's war on terror in Afghanistan, which has become the longest war in United States history. Gopal sheds light on what is happening in the region through the experiences of three Afghanis: a Taliban commander, a warlord who has the support of the U.S., and a housewife in a small village—all of whom are caught up in the life-or-death stakes of the conflict. Through these varying perspectives, readers see firsthand what went wrong with America's involvement in Afghanistan and the very real, very human toll it has taken.

The book opens on September 11, 2001, the day of the terrorist attacks that gave birth to the United States' war on terror, which ultimately led to the invasion of Afghanistan. However, the crashing Twin Towers are not the image with which Gopal opens his book. Instead, readers visit a small Afghani village, which on that very morning had endured a brutal terror attack of its own—from the Taliban. This event is just one in a long line of terror attacks that everyday Afghanis had been fighting for more than twenty years by that point.

Gopal moves to Afghanistan in 2008 and immediately starts seeking out Taliban stories from the locals. Most of their stories center on one individual, a Taliban leader named Mullah Cable. Gopal eventually meets Cable, who provides one of the lenses through with No Good Men Among the Living spins its multifaceted tale. Cable—real name: Akbar Gul—starts out a scrawny adolescent who works his way up the ranks to become a feared Taliban commander; his nickname, Cable, is a reference to his remarkable prowess with a whip. When the Taliban initially falls, he flees to Pakistan and starts a normal civilian life, but he eventually returns to Afghanistan and opens a phone repair shop. Soon, growing discontent with local unrest, the corruption and inefficacy of Afghani police, and the increasing American presence in the area, he joins up once again with the Taliban. As he tells his story to Gopal, he gives the impression of a man forced by circumstance into terrorism. Regardless of what got him into the lifestyle, Cable is a killer, and he ends up a prisoner at Bagram Air Base.



Jan Mohammed Khan is a friend of the author who becomes the governor of Oruzgan Province. He adds another vantage point from which to view the war in Afghanistan and America's impact there. A tribal warlord, Jan Mohammed wields great power and control during his governorship, and he sets out to destroy anyone who crosses him. Apparently, this impresses the American presence in Oruzgan Province, and they throw their backing behind Jan Mohammed. He and warlords like him use their alliance with the Americans to arm themselves against ethnic and economic rivals. The Americans allow themselves to be used, claiming that, in return, they are allegedly getting valuable intelligence from the warlords to use in the war on terror. By the end of the story, Jan Mohammed Khan is dead, likely assassinated by the nephew, Matiullah, who assumed his governorship of Oruzgan Province.

The third perspective comes from Heela Achekzai, a village housewife in Oruzgan. Jan Mohammed is directly responsible for many of the tragedies Heela has suffered, including ordering the killing of her husband, Musqinyar, whose dead body, torn through with bullets, she finds "lying neatly on the dirt road, on a bed of flour sacks." Heela takes her children and goes to the local American base for help. They resettle her in Kandahar, but she returns to Oruzgan later on her own terms. Then, she continues her extraordinary adventure by running for a seat in the Afghani senate—and winning.

The ultimate goal of No Good Men Among the Living is not to justify the brutality of a terrorist, or to glorify the power abuses of a warlord, or to even to create a feel-good survival story about an Afghani woman who triumphs. Instead, Gopal sets out to challenge preconceived notions about the war in Afghanistan and the categories used to defend, explain, and fight it. When Gopal discusses this with a local Afghani man, the man responds with an oft-repeated proverb: "There are no good men among the living, and no bad ones among the dead." While on the surface this saying seems like a commentary on how death scrubs even the most despicable individuals clean, Gopal identifies a deeper meaning, one that reverberates with many Afghanis like the one he is talking to. "There were no heroes, no saviors, in his world," Gopal observes. "Neither side in the conflict offered much hope for a better future."