Review: The Wrong Enemy — American in Afghanistan 2001 2014 by Carlotta Gall

Carlotta Gall’s book does a decent job of building on the general narrative of the US choosing the wrong war to fight. But it falls short when it comes to providing foolproof sources to back its claims, writes Avalok Langer in Tehelka

As dawn broke, American and Afghan soldiers surrounded the village and advanced on foot, searching houses and detaining people. “When they came right into the village and saw the dead women and children they were very sad and their attitude changed towards us … they told me through a translator that they had made a mistake. They said ‘we are sorry, but what’s done, we cannot undo.’ … ‘They were collecting body parts in buckets’, the governor told us … Four days after the bombardment, the place was still a scene of unspeakable gore. Blood stained the ground and putrefying flesh was still entangled amid the bright scarlet blossoms of a pomegranate tree.”