By Steven Pressfield | Published: December 4, 2009
SP: Chief Zazai, I’d love to get your take today on the subject of corruption, because so much has been written about it recently in the American press–that cleaning up the Karzai government has become a major priority of the new Obama plan, that benchmarks will now be enforced and so on. The Western media have reported that corruption is simply a part of Afghan life, that it can never be eradicated. What do you say to this? Is it true? Is there a tribal component to corruption?
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By Steven Pressfield | Published: November 27, 2009
[The blog is taking Thanksgiving off; we'll repost last week's interview below.
[On this day of gratitude, though, I want to offer a major thank-you to our weekly series contributors, Chief Ajmal Khan Zazai and Maj. Jim Gant; thanks to everyone who has logged onto the blog, circulated it and linked to it; and special thanks to all who have contributed to the Comments section. Many of the comments have been so insightful and so brilliantly-articulated (we've had input from troopers in the field, from veterans of all theaters and every war back to WWII; we've heard from officers who served with the Montagnards and Pashtun warriors who fought the Russians and many more) that I'm trying to figure a way to translate the best stuff off the Comments boxes, which are sort of like the interior pages of a newspaper, and move it out onto the "front page," where it's more visible. We'll start Monday with a special post and do it again from time to time when the occasion prompts it. (more…)
By Steven Pressfield | Published: November 6, 2009
SP: You’ve been in Kabul the last couple of weeks, Chief Zazai. What were you doing there?
Chief Zazai: I was meeting with British and American commanders, trying to get support for the Tribal Police Force program in my home valley. (more…)
