Ghosts of Afghanistan, by Jonathan Steele

Steele, a reporter and columnist for the Guardian newspaper, has covered Afghan­istan since the former Soviet Union's occupation in the 1980s. American involvement in Afghanistan should not be compared to the Vietnam War. For parallels we should look instead to the Soviet Union's experience there. At the heart of Steele's account are 13 myths about Afghanistan, which he debunks, including the notion that the Taliban invited al-Qaeda to seek sanctuary there.