The Khaarijee: A Chronicle of Friendship and War in Kabul

While other reviewers had some complaints about Garcia's behaviors (couldn't remember names, etc.) I found this book exactly fit the bill for what I wanted: an eyewitness perspective of what it is like in Afghanistan. I was reminded of Rory Stewart's magnificent book The Places In Between. It is a series of snapshots over a 6 year period, nothing more and nothing less. As a snapshot, it offers no answers, but after reading this book I don't think any intelligent reader will be looking for answers to anything about Afghanistan. At best, this book will let the reader ask a better set of questions. Garcia is an on-again, off-again international correspondent that makes several trips to Afghanistan (and one to Pakistan that is not really a part of the story but is interesting nonetheless). Readers get to see a refugee camp up close, the physical degradation of Kabul, the sense of hope when American soldiers threw out the Taliban, the confusion of Afghanistan's government, the Afghan people's unfailing politeness to guests and, ultimately, the despair of Afghanistan - what one Afghan refugee calls "a tired country." Highly recommended.

A beautifully written book of six years of stories stitched together by the author. He paints the pages with colors the TV media never show. I would recommend this book to everyone which seeks a better understanding of the people of Afghanistan. This seems like the type of book that could be rewritten as a screenplay. I can just see Sundance Studios producing the movie with Tom Hanks as journalist.

"The Khaarijee" is a moving story, told in snapshots, of one journalist's experiences in Afghanistan from 2001 till 2007. The reader, like I'm sure Mr Garcia, feels like you are looking through slats at people's lives; only momentarily realizing that you are missing vast parts of their lives. And right now, this is the right time to read such a book on this country given that the US is at the crossroads where it must decide if it will stay and try to undo the damage that Bush and the Taliban have wrought or if it will disentangle itself from the country and try to stop further damage, and heartbreak, from our so far, failed attempts to right this nation. This book helps give small glimmers of insight behind the slats. But I just ahead. The story starts with Mr Garcia being sent to Kabul to report on the toppling of the Taliban. Here he meets Khalid who he affectionately nicknames bro. The two of them slowly grow to be fast friends and for all of Mr Garcia's return visits he always sees bro (and most of the time works with him). Through bro Mr Garcia begins to see past the war damage and into the human costs. Beggars, widows, orphans, homes destroyed: lives uprooted. By getting to know the people he begins to understand the the true costs of war and the sometimes complete damage to humanity. Perhaps the strongest moment of the book is when Mr Garcia tries to save 6 boys from the hell they are in. While he is in Afghanistan he does manage to make a difference; you can see the children begin to find hope. However this doesn't last since after a few months time, Mr Garcia returns home. And the boys are left to themselves; hoping he'll keep his word and return. Later, when he does return, its too late. His future promises ring hollow and though he tries, he simply is unable to keep them. The boys melt away. I can't help but see this as an allegory to the UN involvement in the nation. To the NGOs in the nation. Afghanistan is a sad tale indeed. Mr Garcia offers no solutions and you can feel his frustration. He wants to do the right thing only he no longer is sure what that means. Do we stay and show that we really do want to help and if we do stay can we? When Mr Garcia writes about being embedded with the US forces, one can't help but feel that the answer is that the US cannot help. And can you blame them given what's happening? This is a tough read, much like early Robert Kaplan, Mr Garcia makes you think about the hard topics. Given that right now we, the US, are trying to map our road there I can't think of a better time to read a powerful book on this nation.

This memoir tells the story of a war correspondent who spends many years in Afghanistan, long after the news had forgotten it - from 2001 to 2007. Written in the first person, it represents a true story, and that's never more evident than at the end - where we do not know what happened to some of the people that he met and cared about. The style of writing reminds me of a younger, optimistic Robert Kaplan. J. Malcolm Garcia had previously had a career as a social worker, and that unique perspective certainly gave him insight on Afghanistan. Malcolm developed a close friendship with a man he calls Bro (Khalid), who served as his driver, translator, and friend. In his time there, he also came to know a group of shoe-shine street boys, that he ends up sponsoring. Tied in with the current events of the time, from AFghan warlords, poppy fields, and the search for Bin Laden, we learn the personal stories of individual Afghanis, and their reaction to the US presence. Like Malcolm, we readers really care about the people he meets. It amazed me how he was able to keep in touch, over multiple visits to Afghanistan, in a country where even cellphone service is questionable. I had recently read Robert Kaplan's Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan, written many years ago when the US was actually sponsoring the Jihad against the Russian occupation . This book makes a great counterpoint/bookend to that book, as both are about Afghanistan and its people, both are travel memoirs. But while Soldiers of God kept more distance from its subjects - while also shedding much light on the Afghani spirit - The Kharijee is much more personal. For anyone interested in Afghanistan, I recommend both of these books - as well as the literary prizewinner - the Kite Runner.

I have read several fine memoirs over the past few months, each unique and special. THE KHAARRIJEE: A CHRONICLE OF FRIENDSHIP AND WAR IN KABUL is one of the finest. I was immediately taken by this absorbing and moving account of the war in Afghanistan. It is beautifully written, direct, honest and intimate. J. Malcolm Garcia as a competent war reporter gives us important and enlightening journalism. He is generous in providing much needed perspective on the brutal and never-ending conflict in this devastated, war-ravaged country. But he also gives the reader so much more in this extraordinary memoir. He reaches deeply into the issues of the long-suffering, war torn people of Afghanistan. It is a gripping and intense story of their horror and outrage, of their anger and fear. Yet it is also a story rich with tenderness and poignancy, of humor and friendship, of culture and faith. Garcia with moving honesty reveals his own personal transformation over the seven years of his professional work in Afghanistan. As a former social worker in San Francisco, having worked for over fourteen years in a detox program for the homeless, he was drained and numb. He wanted out of social work, out of his life as it was, so he took up journalism and became an overseas newspaper reporter, landing in Kabul for the first time in November 2001, two months after September 11th. As an American reporter with limited journalism experience and no knowledge of the local languages, Garcia hired an Afghan interpreter/driver who would help him navigate through the political, social, and cultural maze in the capital of the conflicted, violent battleground of Afghanistan. His interpreter is Khalid, a 24 year Muslim of a Pashtun tribe who Garcia nicknamed "Bro." Likewise Bro named Garcia "Khaarijee", the outsider. After a short time of working together they became affectionate friends, eventually as close as brothers. With Bro as his guide, his protector, his friend, Garcia learns to love Afghanistan, its people, its history, its culture. Garcia found himself not only reporting on the war but immersing himself completely in Afghanistan. It became his professional and emotional center of gravity. He describes himself as the outsider seeking his place in the Afghan culture. He finds that place with the help of Bro in pursuit of his personal mission "to make a difference." It is in the lives of six homeless, war-orphaned boys who Garcia and Bro find scavenging for survival on the streets of Kabul that Garcia tries to make a difference. The story of Garcia, Bro and the six boys unfolds in a touching, profound way. I found it difficult to put down. I highly recommend THE KHAARIJEE.