“Examining the nuts and bolts of the Afghanistan war, investigative journalist Wissing (Pioneer in Tibet: The Life and Perils of Dr. Albert Shelton) reviews the conflict in terms of a “toxic system” of links between diplomats, private military organizations, aid workers, the Kabul government, and jihadists that has led to the squandering of billions of American dollars, an increase in the opium trade, and rampant corruption leading to funding the Taliban opposition. He effectively outlines how the Bush administration dropped the ball by outsourcing military battles to inept Afghan militants, making bogus deals with drug lords and insincere Pakistani officials, and permitting Osama bin Laden and top al-Qaeda officials to escape into Pakistan. Carefully documenting the hapless capability of the U.S. Agency for International Development, a vital tool of American foreign policy, in the war, Wissing looks into the high life of Kabul diplomats in their booze-filled nights of sex and hijinks, while soldiers risk their necks in the dangerous terrain. One of the most candid behind-the-scenes examples of Afghan War reportage, this book contains a host of voices that spell out the chaos and mayhem of America’s longest war.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Sober, sad, and important, Funding the Enemy peels back the layers of American engagement in Afghanistan to reveal its rotten core: that United States dollars meant for that country’s future instead fund the insurgency and support the Taliban. Paying for both sides of the war ensures America’s ultimate defeat, and Wissing’s book tells the story.”
—Peter Van Buren, former State Department Foreign Service Officer and author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People
“Mr. Wissing presents a compelling viewpoint of how national security objectives are pursued and how war is waged in the modern, asymmetric battlespace. In particular, his insightful analysis of the Afghanistan war—its funding mechanisms, lack of coherent strategy, and weak interagency cooperation and synergy—should be required reading for all. One of his most poignant phrases, ‘The US couldn’t kill its way to victory, nor could it buy it’ suggests that how we have traditionally waged war isn’t working, implicitly asking this question: What can we do to clean up our act?”
—Major General Arnold Fields, USMC (ret), former Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction
“Douglas Wissing’s book Funding the Enemy is a sobering account of the attempts by several US administrations to both wage war in and provide aid to Afghanistan, often with confusing and contradictory results. Backed by extensive interviews as well as on-the-ground embedded-reporter experience, the book illustrates the nearly impossible task of nation-building in a country with a long history of factional friction and transactional corruption.”
—Lee H. Hamilton, former Indiana congressman and co-chair of the Iraq Study Group
“Reports on the grievous mistakes repeatedly made by United States policy makers since their 2001 intervention in Afghanistan began have circulated in various forms and places for some time. Douglas Wissing’s meticulous marshaling of these devastating facts along with cogent perspectives gleaned from actors on the ground is timely and of considerable value.
The author’s blunt, succinct, yet responsible style leaves the reader with no doubts that new ways forward must focus on the people of Afghanistan who have been ill-served by their friends as well as their leaders for too long. A rehash of old strategies is unacceptable; an honest reading of Funding the Enemy should be required reading as new paths are forged.”
—Nancy Hatch Dupree, executive consultant to the Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University
“This is the first in-depth account of the dysfunctional character of the Afghan enterprise.”
—Dr. Antonio Giustozzi, researcher and author of Koran, Kalashnikov, and Laptop