Summary of Anand Gopal's No Good Men Among The Living

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 In 2001, teenager Noor Ahmed was walking through the Afghan village of Gayawa when he noticed a group of people huddled in a corner. They told him that everyone else in their village had died in a surprise Taliban attack.
#2 In 1994, Afghanistan was ravaged by a civil war, but the Taliban, a fanatical band of religious students, swept aside the warring factions and imposed their own version of Islamic law. The Taliban’s Afghanistan was brutal and unforgiving.
#3 Many of the local stories I would hear involved a particular Taliban unit, one that was feared for its brutality. They would travel from village to village demanding taxes and household firearms.
#4 I met Mullah Cable, a Taliban commander, in Kabul in 2009. He was tall and lanky, with a gold tooth and tattoos all over his arms. He claimed to have quit the Taliban in 2001, when the group was backed by the U. S. , and had since then been fighting against them.

Sujets

• Religion
• Afghan War
• Islam

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 08 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669351221
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Anand Gopal's No Good Men Among the Living
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

In 2001, teenager Noor Ahmed was walking through the Afghan village of Gayawa when he noticed a group of people huddled in a corner. They told him that everyone else in their village had died in a surprise Taliban attack.

#2

In 1994, Afghanistan was ravaged by a civil war, but the Taliban, a fanatical band of religious students, swept aside the warring factions and imposed their own version of Islamic law. The Taliban’s Afghanistan was brutal and unforgiving.

#3

Many of the local stories I would hear involved a particular Taliban unit, one that was feared for its brutality. They would travel from village to village demanding taxes and household firearms.

#4

I met Mullah Cable, a Taliban commander, in Kabul in 2009. He was tall and lanky, with a gold tooth and tattoos all over his arms. He claimed to have quit the Taliban in 2001, when the group was backed by the U. S. , and had since then been fighting against them.

#5

I was interested in understanding why so many Talibs had renounced fighting, but something brought them back to the battlefield just a few years later.

#6

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the Taliban’s reign over Afghanistan was brought to an end. Mullah Cable and the other commanders had been on the verge of something great, but everything changed after the planes crashed into the Twin Towers.

#7

The Taliban had long feared that al-Qaeda was a problem only because of their connections to the group. In reality, al-Qaeda had problems with the Taliban because their interpretation of Islam differed from that of the al-Qaeda leaders.

#8

The reality was that Omar, the Taliban leader, was terrified of handing over bin Laden because it would mean sacrificing his own legitimacy. He was also trying to find a face-saving solution, which ended up being nothing.

#9

In late September, two developments gave Omar a glimmer of hope. First, Pakistani intelligence agents showed up at his house - without their government's knowledge - and assured him that he would have allies in Pakistan. Second, senior Taliban figures decided to defect and throw their lot in with the regime.

#10

When the US bombs did eventually fall, they did so far away from Gayawa. The whole camp heard the explosions, and Mullah Cable watched his soldiers drive away, never to be seen again.

#11

Mullah Cable began to have doubts about the Taliban cause, and wondered if his leaders were planning to abandon him to the Americans. If they were, he would abandon them first.

#12

As the Taliban were being pushed back, Mullah Cable had a crisis of conscience. He drove to the top of a mountain to think about his future. He was certain that if he made it out alive, he would abandon politics forever and get a job in Kabul with his in-laws.

#13

Mullah Cable was captured by the Taliban in November 2001. He was taken to the front lines, where he was Shackled and thrown into an improvised prison with other prisoners. He began to wonder if the Taliban would ever fall.

#14

During a routine inspection, Mullah Cable and another guard were selected to be taken prisoner. They were sent to a small bazaar where they were to collect bread. When they reached a pyramid of tomatoes, they broke into a sprint and escaped.

#15

During a patrol in the middle of the night, Mullah Cable was captured by Taliban soldiers. He was taken to their guard post in Qale Nasro, a garrison town still in Taliban hands. The soldiers decided to keep him for the night.

#16

When he awoke, the soldiers had already begun discussing plans. They were tense, and Mullah Cable could tell they no longer cared about him. He left the camp and returned to the main road, heading towards Kabul.

#17

On November 12, 2001, Mullah Cable returned to Kabul. He saw that the city was in terrible shape. The roads were cratered, and there was almost no one about. He sold everything he had to the neighbors, raising about $1,000. He, his wife, and two other relatives crammed into a minivan taxi.

#18

He was depressed after the ignominy of his flight. He felt like a common thief, turning his back on the movement that had made him who he was.

#19

Mullah Cable and his family made it to a small way station at the foot of the brown mountains. They waited for a smuggler to pick them up, and after a long drive they arrived in Miram Shah, a port town on the Arabian Sea.

#20

After the Taliban were pushed out of Afghanistan, Mullah Cable began planning a new future for himself and his family. He would keep out of sight of Pakistani authorities and try to rebuild his life with the Taliban.

#21

On the day Jan Muhammad was to be executed, he woke up and prayed for two hours before being taken to the showers. He washes the money he had gathered from family visits and the sale of contraband, $2,000, which he gives to another prisoner.

#22

One day, Jan Muhammad was suddenly pushed to the wall and inspected by the warden, an old man with flaking skin and a cold stare. Ten minutes passed. The warden left, and Jan Muhammad was pushed to the wall again.

#23

Once, Jan Muhammad had been the center of things political in Uruzgan Province, but after the Soviets left, his life fell apart. He was stripped of his position and his weapons, and he joined an underground anti-Taliban network.

#24

The Taliban government was extremely hostile to any opposition activity, and in 1999, they arrested Abdul Ahad Karzai, Hamid’s father, for his anti-government stance. He was sentenced to death, but news of the 9/11 attacks and the American invasion never reached his cell.