I just finished The Places in Between, a book by Briton Rory Stewart about his walk through Afghanistan in the winter of 2002, right after the invasion of Afghanistan by the Northern Alliance and the capture of the Taliban. This is probably one of the most amazing things I have ever read about.
Stewart, originally a career diplomat with the British Foreign Service, felt something missing in his life, quit his prominent career, and decided to walk around the world. Unfortunately, he only got as far as walking through Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. Bummer. In the book, he chronicles how he walked the 400 or so miles from Herat to Kabul in about a month by heading through the unknown central lands of Afghanistan without carrying a detailed map because “it made him look like a spy.”
There are some people who are not content to live normal lives, eat breakfast with a paper, go to work, and catch up with friends at Starbucks. In the tradition of those like Lawrence, who throw off the warm, routine comforts of the West, Rory Stewart is one of these people. However, this intensely strong part of his character is not completely evident in the book, where he tries to distance the reader as much from him as possible to focus on describing Afghanistan as it was after the fall of the Taliban just as his predecessor, the Mughal emperor Babur did when he took the same route centuries ago. I learned oodles about Afghanistan that I didn’t know before from my precursory reading of The Kite Runner, The Bookseller of Kabul, watching the movie Osama, and loading up on old Soviet films of the invasion of Afghanistan.
If I could, I would give this book a standing ovation for the worlds it opened for me as much as for the author’s bravery and cultural sensitivity, as well as recommendations of how aid agencies should handle Afghanistan.
As he walks, he describes the landscape of Afghanistan, the cultural history of the country, and the simple village people who have no concept of what the World Trade Center towers were and how they impact the fighting in their country. It is such a fascinating read, simply because we will never have access to that world, to Afghanistan, where everything comes to a crux between three continents over millennia, and we will never be able to just pick up and go across a warzone with just a pack on our backs, particularly not with the ease of a man who has few attachments and little to lose. I strongly suspect that the author was on heavy self-administered doses of crack cocaine when he decided to undertake this trip. After his stint in Asia, Stewart also was a governor of a province in Iraq for a year after the American invasion.
Having completed his stints in the hippest new vacation spots for the American army, Stewart started a foundation to revive the Old City of Kabul and became immediately in demand as an analyst of the situation on the ground for Afghanistan. There are some who critique him for his current role in the resurrection of Afghanistan, but I will most definitely take his advice over others’, given his experience in the mountains of central Afghanistan in the winter.
Related on the blog:
The Women of Kabul
Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan
I Have Wanderlust for Yemen
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Vicki, you must forgive me but I have to object. Rory Stewart is a wanker who went trekking and took advantage of poor people’s good grace, hospitality, and cost various people many favours to one another just for the sake of his white a**.
That doesn’t make him an adventurer. It makes him a leech.
And now he hangs out at various fancy universities and pontificates about post-conflict reconstruction in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Speaking Dari and knowing the taste of goat milk doesn’t make him an economic development expert any more than me clubbing in Brussels makes an expert on European affairs, sorry.
Hey, thanks for your comment.
You know, I was thinking about this other side, too. He stopped at a lot of people’s houses along the way and did take advantage of their hospitality, especially in cold, hungry regions. So in a way, he was very colonial in his outlook as a white Englishman.
But at the same time, how many people, including the aid workers that he talks about and the US presidents that command the troop presence, have seen the real Afghanistan (if that’s indeed what he saw) like he has? I think that gives him some right to talk about it, even if, like you say it doesn’t give him the right to be the premier regional expert.
Which brings me to another question. What makes a better development expert? Someone with a Ph.D. in econ or someone who’s lived in a small agricultural community for a couple of months? Not saying either is right, just trying to get your take on it.
Firstly, Mo-ha-med’s comment branding the man a “wanker” are childish and personal insults are not neccessary; they contain no substance, reason or supporting evidence whatsover. It should also be noted that Rory Stewart does actually browse the internet himself and so would you be happy to find someone writing that about you?
Also Mo-ha-med goes on to make a derogatory jibe at Rory Stewart’s race when he says, “for the sake of his white a**.” What on earth has his skin tone got to with anything? If someone made a comment about black, brown or whatever a***s it would be regarded as racist yet Mo-ha-med makes a potentially offensive comment about being white and goes unchallenged.
I disagree with you branding Rory Stewart “a leech” and claiming that he is exploiting the people. He has a great fascination and passion for Afghanistan; he greatly respects it’s people and their culture.
In my opinion it would appear that Rory Stewart travelled across Afghanistan simply to explore, learn and develop a better undstanding of the Afghan people and their way of life. He is not there to rob them of what little they have or exploit them in anyway; he respects the people and their customs. How can you claim to truly understand a people when you have no experience of living like them?
Rory Stewart will never be an Afghan, but he does possess a vast knowledge of the place. He has travelled, explored and attempted to live amongst them as they do. He has tried to get the best possible understanding that he can. You claim that he might not be “an economic development expert” yet he has far more experience and a greater knowledge of Afghanistan that most NATO staff. Who else is there, but him?
Explorer,
Thank you for stopping by and leaving your thoughts. It is indeed very much appreciated. I respect and admire Rory for doing what others before him have not, and what NATO, UN, and the other alphabet soup of organizations will not in the near future. There is no other way to understand Afghanistan, or any other country, other than being on ground level, away from bureaucratic conclaves. My only question remains as I posed above.
Does hiking in the mountains and expecting hospitality at each stop constitute an imposition on the native population?
Oh! I had another thought. What do you think of his other book, Prince of the Marshes about his year in Iraq? I haven’t read it yet, but the fact that he was there for year counts for something? Or was he being exploitative again?
Rory Stewart is Scottish not English.
Vicki, I would just like to correct an error you made in your post. Rory Stewart is actually Scottish not English, but he speaks with a posh, upper-class English accent simply because he was educated at Eton (a posh boys school) and Oxford University.
Both of these two academic institutions are mainly full of the upper-class (i.e. nobility, the rich and wealthy) and so most students that attend them adopt (or are encouraged to speak with) that clear-cut posh accent that is often referred to as “received pronounciation” or “The Queen’s English.”
Explorer,
Thank you for pointing out my mistakes. My apologies.
He speaks with a Transatlantic drawl, and uses American-English tinged with RP, if you actually listen to him prattle on.
BTW, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to call anyone in public life a wanker.
Using this language is not “childish” or especially “personal” in itself: it depends on the context.
This is a person who seems to have collected connections (using the school and varsity grapevine) abused the goodwill of extremely poor illiterate people (as well as his connections), to develop a brand image as an erudite academic; stinks of Kissinger and other such smarm.
As for the bizarre blather about “race”, you really are going for it aren’t you – with the irrelevant ad hominem stuff; anyone would think you were Rory’s boyfriend [etc..., go on, bite...].
It’s one thing to go travelling to immerse yourself in a language or culture, but when you start issue sepia tinged photos of you posing in local garb like Lawrence of Arabia, and publishing books and getting yourself on the radio and telly, and a vanity website, then it’s pretty evident that it was a disingenuous stunt; and that he’s using these people essentially to career-build.
Travelling through a place does not make you an expert: it is not the same as living in a place for years and developing full awareness – that takes sacrifice. It’s not as good as dedicated focussed research either. The idea that touching the place without any in-depth study and reading will be a substitute for it is ludicrous.
The truth about him is that he’s been very successful at becoming very successful. He had a lucky start in life, and made the most of it. He’s aggressively used whatever advantages he’s had to become prematurely accelerated into a lofty position. This obviously annoys a lot of people. It’s not quite the same as jealousy, because I doubt truly credible people would trade in their credibility to become a “pop-star politician” with a transparently ruggedised image (as he has); I think people are just annoyed because the reality of the world is that recognition is so infrequently bestowed where it’s due.
In summary, “vast knowledge” no; “leech”, yes.
…but then, so are most politicians.
“Does hiking in the mountains and expecting hospitality at each stop constitute an imposition on the native population?”
Does a tourist who museum-hops and only visits tourist attractions learn more about a place than a tourist who mingles with the locals? I think there are benefits to both tacks, for all parties. By visiting with local families, not only did he learn about them and their day-to-day lives, they also learned something about him and his culture. There is mutual sharing in every exchange, intended or not.