I'll be honest, I skipped a large chunk of this book in the middle. I liked the opening chapters of this book — thoughts of British troops on the ground who have fought against the Taliban — and the closing chapter of this book — thoughts of Taliban insurgents on the ground who are fighting against "foreign invaders". With regards to the mindset of British troops, if this book is anything to go by, it is clear that in 2007 (when this book was published), many British troops on the ground were really not sure what they were fighting for. If they were fighting to remove the Taliban and to put in place a competent, uncorrupt, pro-Western government that can defend itself against the Taliban, then they had failed. If they were fighting to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, then the fighting was pretty pointless because the Taliban could have been brought to the negotiating table without any fighting.
