Amb. James F. Dobbins has held various State Department and White House posts, including assistant secretary of state for Europe, special assistant to the president for the Western Hemisphere, special adviser to the president and secretary of state for the Balkans, and ambassador to the European Community. He was the Clinton administration's special envoy for Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo and the Bush administration's first special envoy for Afghanistan. Lead author of The RAND History of Nation-Building and The Beginner's Guide to Nation-Building, Ambassador Dobbins lives in Washington, D.C., where he currently directs RAND's International Security and Defense Policy Center.
"After the Taliban is a superb read. U.S. Special Envoy to
Afghanistan James Dobbins was masterful in orchestrating the peace
following decades of violence and war. He stood up their nation's
fragile participatory government. Those of us on the ground in
Afghanistan during the difficult days of 2001 so admired the skill
with which he represented America. This book will be a primer in
the study of diplomacy for decades to come."--Gary Berntsen, former
CIA officer and author of Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden
and Al Qaeda. -- (5/2/2008 12:00:00 AM)
"James Dobbins has written a wise, interesting, and balanced
account of the diplomacy surrounding the foundation of the first
Afghan government after the fall of the Taliban. Dobbins's book is
part memoir and part an explication of how American diplomacy
really works. After the Taliban is the first account from
the inside about one of the real triumphs of American diplomacy
after the Cold War: the creation of the conditions that allowed the
Karzai government to emerge. As Dobbins relates, a good deal of the
credit for this goes to the Iranians, and a good deal of the
problems that have emerged since in Afghanistan are the result of
the U.S. underfunding Afghan reconstruction and not committing
enough boots on the ground for stability operations. It is a
fascinating account of U.S. policymaking at its best and its
worst."--Peter Bergen, author of The Osama bin Laden I Know
and Holy War, Inc.-- (5/2/2008 12:00:00 AM)
"One of the wisest and most experienced of America's foreign policy
hands skillfully tells what went right and wrong in Afghanistan.
This is a timely personal and policy story. Each chapter pulses
with thoughtful lessons that were learned or should have been
learned."--Bob Woodward, assistant managing editor, Washington
Post, and author of Bush at War-- (5/2/2008 12:00:00
AM)
"This compact, immensely readable and highly intelligent book could
hardly be timelier, since Afghanistan is sure to be in the news for
some time to come. Combining personal recollections with a
fast-paced narrative and probing analysis, Jim Dobbins sheds fresh
light on America's war against the Taliban and on the
reconstruction effort that followed. Dobbins is one of the nation's
best, smartest, and--it is worth emphasizing in the context of the
story he tells here--bravest diplomats. Given his extensive earlier
experience in practicing the twin arts of diplomacy backed by force
and force backed by diplomacy, he was the right man for a tough
job. And as he demonstrates here, he is also the right chronicler
of a high-stakes and still-suspenseful episode in U.S. foreign
policy. His book is must reading, with lessons for the future as
well as vital insights into the recent past."--Strobe Talbott,
former deputy secretary of state and author of The Great
Experiment: The Story of Ancient Empires, Modern States, and the
Quest for a Global Nation-- (5/2/2008 12:00:00 AM)
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