Structural Problems overwhelm a good analyst

Posted by Keith Boyea on 4th Jun 2012

I have followed Registan.net for several years as someone who is interested in Afghanistan and American policy towards Afghanistan. Josh's writing there is generally insightful, useful, and a rich source of analysis for people interested in Afghanistan. I'm very serious about that--his posts contain links to important news reports and articles that are useful to researchers and his analysis often gives an alternative view to the mainstream news.

However, the greatest strengths of his blogging make for the biggest weakness of his book. Put simply, his blog's format does not translate well to book form. Many of the events Josh writes about are a few years old, and are not fresh in anyone's memory. If you were to read an old post of his online, you could click imbedded links and reacquaint yourself with what Josh is talking about. Obviously this is not possible in book.

Additionally, the book's flow is very poor. The posts are generally fairly short, from approximately 500 to 2000 words. They are reprinted in a logical manner, but every couple pages you encounter a new event, new discussion, or new article Josh is responding to. While sometimes entertaining, it just doesn't flow. It was very hard for me to read more than two or three entries at a time because at the beginning of every entry I had to reorient myself as to the subject of the writing. With dozens of ethnic groups, geographical areas, and insurgent groups, even someone familiar with Afghanistan has a hard time understanding the context of the writing. I would have had a more enjoyable experience reading the postings online (so I could access source material).

If I could offer one additional critique, it would be that the author seems almost in a hurry. He's a gifted writer and he's genuinely interested in developing real expertise on Afghanistan. But if Josh would have spent the time developing an original narrative, assisted by his previous writing, the book would have been far more readable.

Lastly, I doubt this is the last we've heard from this author. He still posts several times a day at registan.net, and he is very much worth reading in that format, as he is when he publishes at the websites of PBS, the Atlantic and Foreign Policy. If you are interested in Afghanistan and America's involvement there, read Joshua Foust's work, but I'd recommend reading it online and not in this book.