Killing the Cranes

For all too many Americans, knowledge of Afghanistan's history begins only with the events of 9/11 and the subsequent US-led invasion. Yet this ancient and troubled country has endured decades of occupation and strife, as well as centuries of interest by outside nations. At the crossroads of trade between East and West, North and South, Afghanistan holds the key to peace and security in the region, and its control is hotly contested by warring factions, each eager to dominate the discussion.

Leading international journalist Edward Girardet has been a witness to more than three decades of upheaval in Afghanistan. In Killing the Cranes, he recollects the events he has seen unfold in Afghanistan-beginning with the Red Army occupation in 1979, the collapse of the communist regime, the bitter Battle for Kabul in the mid-1990s, the Taliban takeover, and the post-9/11 US invasion.

With tremendous insight and courage, he examines not only the leaders and their visions, the resulting internal struggles for power and the deep divisions within the population, but also the invaders and their tactics, and the attending destruction and death visited on the Afghan people.

By relating his insights, Girardet hopes to bring those who face the conundrum that is Afghanistan to the final understanding why any attempt by the US (or any outside nation) to govern there is ultimately doomed to fail.

About the Author:

Edward Girardet is a journalist, writer and producer who has reported widely from humanitarian and conflict zones in Africa, Asia and elsewhere since the late 1970s. As a foreign correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor, US News and World Report, and The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour based in Paris, he first began covering Afghanistan several months prior to the Soviet invasion in 1979. He has worked on numerous television current affairs and documentary segments on subjects ranging from the war in Angola to lost tribes in Western New Guinea and environmental issues in Africa for major European and North American broadcasters. Girardet is afounding director of the Institute for Media and Global Governance in Geneva, Switzerland. He is also editor of Crosslines Essential Media Ltd (UK).

Girardet has written widely for major publications such as National Geographic Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, International Herald Tribune, Financial Times and other media on humanitarian, media and conflict issues. He has also written and edited several books, notably Afghanistan - The Soviet War (1985), Somalia, Rwanda and Beyond (1996),Populations in Danger (1996), and The CROSSLINES Essential Field Guide to Afghanistan (1998, 2004 and 2006). Girardet lives with his family in Cessy, France near the Swiss border with Geneva.