Book Review: The Places In Between

A few weeks after Afghanistan’s Taliban government fell in December, 2001, a Scotsman named Rory Stewart walks into the new government’s Foreign Ministry office. Unshaven and disheveled, he announces his intention to walk across the entire country unarmed, with virtually no provisions. The two security agents present warn Rory of the harsh Afghan winter, the wolves that roam the countryside, and the ubiquitous inter-village warfare that destabilizes the entire region. "You will die, I guarantee," one of the men told him. "Do you want to die?" (The Places In Between, 3).

Mr. Stewart proceeds anyway.

News of his unusual vacation spreads fairly quickly. As he leaves the eastern city of Herat to begin his journey, he passes by two men engaged in discussion about him. "He may be tougher than he looks," said one of the men, "but I don’t think he understands what he is doing" (31).

In The Places In Between, former British diplomat Rory Stewart documents his incredible journey from Herat to the Afghan capital Kabul, a distance of 500 miles. Following in the footsteps of Afghanistan’s first Mughal emperor Babur, Mr. Stewart chooses the highly dangerous and uncharted central route through the country, a choice the security agents heartily disagree with. During his travels, Stewart meets scores of interesting people, some of whom know little about the outside world and still live as their medieval ancestors did.

With an amazing attention to detail, Rory chronicles this diverse cast of characters, from his hilariously eccentric bodyguard Abdul Haq to the dangerous slew of Taliban and al-Qaeda sympathizers operating in defiance of the fragile new government.

Stewart maintains a neutral, clipped tone throughout the book, offering objective and historical insight that further enhances the reading experience. Even those with little knowledge of the Islamic world will gain tremendous appreciation for this very troubled country while learning a great deal about its culture.

Despite his objectivity, however, Rory covers the human condition quite well. He clearly communicates his fondness for several of his hosts along the way:

“I had savored the hot rice, the firm floor, the shelter from the wind, and the companionship. I had felt how proud the men were of what they could provide and how lucky I was to share their space. They treated me as though I belonged and I had felt that I did” (287).

Given the breadth of Stewart’s amazing journey, The Places In Between moves a little too quickly. Readers never really learn WHY Rory decided to walk across Afghanistan, although he briefly touches upon it. He also rushes a bit when discussing his experiences within each village he visits. These encounters form the very crux of Rory’s journey, and they deserve more elucidation than they receive. Nonetheless, the book is a recommended read for anyone seeking a greater understanding of Middle Eastern affairs and a little insight into the thoughts and beliefs of the Taliban and al-Qaeda Everyman.

Book Review: The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq

Our mission was to create a “democratic Iraq at peace with itself and its neighbors” — or in the jargon popular in Baghdad, “a multi-ethnic, decentralized, prosperous state, based on human rights, a just constitution, a vibrant civil society, and the rule of law." (The Prince of the Marshes, p.8)

In 2002, a British infantry officer turned international diplomat named Rory Stewart returned home from a 20-month backpacking trip across the Middle East to pursue the quiet life in the Scottish Highlands. However, after the U.S. invasion of Iraq the following year, Mr. Stewart joined the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) as deputy governor, then governor, of the Iraqi province of Maysan. Later, the CPA assigned him to the nearby Dhi Qar province as senior advisor.

The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq is Stewart’s memoir of his time in Iraq, describing his frustrating, horrific, and frequently hilarious adventures as he struggles to create stable governments in two remote provinces on the brink of anarchy. War-torn and volatile hotspots close to Iran, Maysan and Dhi Qar are riddled with warring tribes, insurgent activity, and duplicitous government officials who rarely agree on anything. Politically, the main interest groups include the “Iranian-linked groups” and the Sadrists, both Islamic extremist factions favoring a totalitarian theocratic government in Iraq. In the other corner is a curious figure the CPA nicknames “The Prince of the Marshes.”

The Prince, also called Abu Hatim, fought against Saddam Hussein for 17 years; he was therefore regarded as a national hero among many in Iraq. His followers include a number of rural tribes from a marshland region of Maysan, straddling the Iran/Iraq border. A persecuted people during Saddam Hussein’s presidency, the “Marsh Arabs” are a relatively secular and moderate minority group committed to simple, independent living. Most hold only a minor interest in local and state politics.

Significantly, Stewart introduces these interest groups in a dramatis personae. Indeed, many of the “players” swing their loyalties back and forth between the CPA and their respective tribal sheiks while Stewart’s team constantly battles with a highly idealistic central command with little insight into the day-to-day goings-on beyond Baghdad’s Green Zone. CPA politicians often accuse Rory of exaggerating his security reports, and some of his project proposals disappear into a labyrinthine bureaucratic quagmire.

Stewart tells a sobering, factual account of his experiences, from his own perspective. He sets a solid, historical context upon which he builds his journalistic prose. As a result, even readers with little knowledge of the Middle East or its people gain an understanding and appreciation of the socio-political backdrop of the region, and the complex history that gave birth to the modern Arab world.

Mr. Stewart also includes a healthy dose of British humor to make light of otherwise dire circumstances, and he recreates the flamboyancy of his American colleagues to hilarious effect. After an American security contractor shows up at his office in stitches after battling insurgents for two hours, Stewart describes the man’s story as follows:

I was just up [on the roof], and this Sadr asshole runs toward us with an RPG and I shout at the Italian on the fifty cal, ‘shoot him.’ And the Italian does nothing. So the asshole shoots the tube. Wham . . . [f]ucking huge explosion . . . [t]he Iraqi releases another rocket, the grenade hits one of our vehicles. Bang. Vehicle up in flames. I run across the roof, and I just fucking push the Italian off his gun. He’s like, ‘hey, hey.’ And then I see the problem. The guy had stacked the sandbags so high around himself that his gun can only fire at a forty-five degree angle in the air. (p. 367)

This book is a must-read for people on either side of the political spectrum. Stewart offers a unique and surprisingly objective insight into daily life in occupied Iraq that neither academics, nor the media, nor the government, nor the flag-waving “armchair generals” could ever provide.