Mark Curtis, 'The Great Game: The Reality of Britain's war in Afghanistan'

IssueMarch 2011
Review by Gabriel Carlyle

Written by one of the foremost critics of UK foreign policy and published to coincide with the launch of War on Want’s YES campaign, calling for the withdrawal of British troops and “a negotiated settlement” to the war, this is a useful capsule summary of where things currently stand.

While much of this material (drones, “targeted killings”, secret prisons) will already be familiar to PN readers – and there’s less on negotiations than one might anticipate – there’s also some novel material on US attempts to privatise the Afghan economy, the militarisation of aid, and the role of private mercenaries (of the 39 registered private military companies in Afghanistan, 10 are from Britain).