The Experience of War in Afghanistan

There's an interesting post over at the "Duck of Minerva" blog by Vikash Yadav titled the "Blogs of War". In it he surveys a number of blogs by soldiers serving in Afghanistan, concentrating on those who spend a lot of time off-base. He finds a number of common themes: paternalism, a faith in modernization, mistrust of the Afghans, and a fascination with the comforts of Western life, provided by the military. He concludes that even those military personnel who spend a lot of time among the Afghanis don't understand them very well. You don't have to accept his assessment. Follow his links to the original blogs and judge for yourself.