Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: strange days in Afghanistan and Pakistan

A true-life Catch-22 set in the war-torn countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, by one of the region’s longest-serving correspondents.

Kim Barker is not your typical, impassive foreign correspondent - she is candid, self-deprecating, and funny. At first an awkward newbie in Afghanistan, she grows into a wisecracking, seasoned reporter with  grave concerns about the ability of US might to win hearts and minds in the region.

As she does the ‘Taliban shuffle’ between conflict zones, Barker offers  a close-up account of the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, chronicling  the years after America’s initial routing of the Taliban. When Barker arrives in Kabul, foreign aid is at a record low, electricity is a pipe dream, and of the few remaining foreign troops, some aren’t allowed out after dark. Meanwhile, in the vacuum left by the  US and NATO, the Taliban is regrouping.

Swift, funny, and wholly original, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot unforgettably captures the absurdity and tragedy of our modern wars.