Night Letters: Inside Wartime Afghanistan

by Rob Schultheis

Release Date: 01 November, 2001

Edition: Paperback

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A journalist's view of Afghanistan during the Soviet period.

On the back cover of this book, one reviewer compares this book to Dispatches. I have to agree. This book is a great read about the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan. The author is a stringer journalist who fell in love with Afghanistan in the early seventies and then went back to cover it during the Soviet War. This book is his personal memories of the war. Not only does this book giving a loving portrait of the country and the people, but is shows the brutal results when a totalitarian, clumsy superpower tries to exert its power over the people.
This is a relatively short book at 150 pages. A reader will find interesting portraits of both the terrain, different tribes, and some of the characters who waged the guerrilla war.
As with all wars, there is death and destruction. The one story I will retain about this book is the sense of honor among the Afghans. The personal story where Rob was left in the mountains to fend for himself because of a mistrusted guide. When Rob finds the town he wanted to go to, the Afghan muj find out about the errant guide and go off to kill him. To the muj, the guide did an evil act by leaving a visitor in the hills and needed to be dispatched.
Overall a great read about the war in Afghanistan in the eighties. Highly recommended.

A Great Read

Rob Schultheis does a great job making you feel the cold, the sore feet, exhaustion and fear while being hunted by armed tribesmen and Soviet airforces inside Afghanistan.

A great book to read on your next plane trip across country. I couldn't put it down and neither have the troopers I work with. It has been passed around so much I doubt I will ever see my copy again.