The Taliban Shuffle
strange days in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Kim Barker
‘Fierce, funny, and unflinchingly honest.’
Kirkus Review
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, The Taliban Shuffle unforgettably captures the absurdity and tragedy of our modern wars.
Reviews
‘Witty, brilliant, and impossible to put down. Think P. J. O’Rourke meets Paul Theroux. Who knew war could be so funny?’
Rajiv Chandrasekaran
‘The Taliban Shuffle is part war memoir, part tale of self-discovery that, thanks to Barker’s biting honesty and wry wit, manages to be both hilarious and heartbreaking.’
Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune
» All reviews for this title‘Laugh-out-loud funny, it is the true story of what it is like to be a female journalist in one of the world’s most exotic war zones, while telling the reader much about what is really going on today in Afghanistan and Pakistan.’
Peter Bergen
