In April 2006 a small British peace-keeping force was sent to Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. Within weeks they were cut off and besieged by some of the world’s toughest fighters: the infamous Taliban, who were determined to send the foreigners home again. Defence Secretary John Reid had hoped that Operation Herrick 4 could be accomplished without a shot being fired; instead, the Army was drawn into the fiercest fighting it had seen for fifty years. Millions of bullets and thousands of lives have been expended since then in an under-publicized but bitter conflict whose end is still not in sight. Some people consider it the fourth Anglo-Afghan War since Victorian times. How on earth did this happen? And what is it like for the troops on the front line of the ‘War on Terror’? James Fergusson takes us to the dark heart of the battle zone. Here, in their own words and for the first time, are the young veterans of Herrick 4. Here, unmasked, are the civilian and military officials responsible for planning and executing the operation. Here, too, are the Taliban themselves, to whom Fergusson gained unique and extraordinary access. Controversial, fascinating and occasionally downright terrifying, A Million Bullets analyses the sorry slide into war in Helmand and asks this most troubling question: could Britain perhaps have avoided the violence altogether?
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The only thoughtful and informed book to come out of the UK's venture into Helmand -- Royal United Services Institute Journal
A riveting, blistering, deeply reported narrative of the recent British military interventions in Afghanistan.
-- Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc. and The Osama bin Laden I Know
An exemplary book that should be required reading for policymakers and commanders alike.
-- Anthony LLoyd, The Times
His account cannot be ignored by anyone seriously interested in the future of the British armed forces. -- Douglas Hurd
an exemplary book that should be required reading for policymakers and commanders alike.
-- Antony Loyd, The Times
A riveting, blistering, deeply reported narrative of the recent British military interventions in Afghanistan.
-- Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc. and The Osama bin Laden I Know
An exemplary book that should be required reading for policymakers and commanders alike.
-- Anthony LLoyd, The Times
His account cannot be ignored by anyone seriously interested in the future of the British armed forces. -- Douglas Hurd
an exemplary book that should be required reading for policymakers and commanders alike.
-- Antony Loyd, The Times
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The real story of the British army in Afghanistan
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
James Fergusson has set out to cover a number of tangential matters than combine to point out the lack of a coherence and reality to NATO policy in Afghanistan, especially as this is applied by the British Army.
He tends to travel in the backwaters. Instead of the much rated 3 Para he visits the Gurkhas and Royal Fusiliers from the 3 Para Battlegroup shut away in some unsupported location getting shot at by the Taleban and unable to perform their mission of reconstruction.
He examines the practical difficulties of a small force of military professionals trying to bring peace to an area by bringing war. The difficulties of persuading the locals that the corrupt and brutal police and Afghan Army are to be supported are laid out; as is the difficulty of making the police and army anything but corrupt when they are underpaid and undertrained. It's a real muddle.
By comparing the units supporting two helicopter types (Chinooks and Apaches) Fergusson can make valuable points about the under-funding of the effort and (perhaps more important) the underinvestment in keeping skilled personnel. Just having the best kit is no answer when service
personnel are condemned to long tours and divorces. But looking at the armour kit used by the cavalry one can see that in some cases it is not only old but designed for different operational conditions (mostly the North German Plain).
Fergusson travels to meet and talk to the Taliban, he clearly respects them and feels they need to be part of the solution. This has been the view of a number of British officials but is apparently not acceptable in the eyes of the more manichean Americans.
Although at times Fergusson seems rather innocent it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that he is on to something. There is only one thing worse than fighting a war with allies; and that is fighting one without any.
He tends to travel in the backwaters. Instead of the much rated 3 Para he visits the Gurkhas and Royal Fusiliers from the 3 Para Battlegroup shut away in some unsupported location getting shot at by the Taleban and unable to perform their mission of reconstruction.
He examines the practical difficulties of a small force of military professionals trying to bring peace to an area by bringing war. The difficulties of persuading the locals that the corrupt and brutal police and Afghan Army are to be supported are laid out; as is the difficulty of making the police and army anything but corrupt when they are underpaid and undertrained. It's a real muddle.
By comparing the units supporting two helicopter types (Chinooks and Apaches) Fergusson can make valuable points about the under-funding of the effort and (perhaps more important) the underinvestment in keeping skilled personnel. Just having the best kit is no answer when service
personnel are condemned to long tours and divorces. But looking at the armour kit used by the cavalry one can see that in some cases it is not only old but designed for different operational conditions (mostly the North German Plain).
Fergusson travels to meet and talk to the Taliban, he clearly respects them and feels they need to be part of the solution. This has been the view of a number of British officials but is apparently not acceptable in the eyes of the more manichean Americans.
Although at times Fergusson seems rather innocent it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that he is on to something. There is only one thing worse than fighting a war with allies; and that is fighting one without any.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is courageous in more ways than one. First and foremost, the author has exposed himself to danger in researching his story, which is something that deserves the reader's respect. Second, he hasn't made black and white judgements on either side of the conflict. This might upset the Daily Mail (especially JF's effort to understand the motives of the Taliban), but at heart it is an intelligent approach that assumes the reader can make his/her own mind up (or try to). It is a rare example of honest and old-fashioned rapportage that does not offer prescriptions but informs the prescriptive process. Like many of us, JF has huge sympathy for the professional soldier and somewhat less for the motives and actions of the politicians who deploy him (and, increasingly, her). The accounts of military action and technology in difficult terrain are as gripping as any adventure story, although like the war itself there is no satisfying conclusion, only a disturbing sense that mistakes have been made in the name of western nations. I am no military historian, but I find nothing especially surprising in the notion of soldiers doing their best but repeatedly tripping over the bootlaces of organisational challenges, inadequate supplies and other shortcomings. These and other themes were covered brilliantly in Dixon's "Psycholoigy of Military Incompetence". However Fergusson updates them in a contemporaneous context, which soldiers and politicians alike should find an instructive addition to Dixon's work.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I don't know much about the politics of war but having read this book I feel that I now have a pretty good inkling of what goes on - and it's not comforting. Perhaps most military adventures have always been conducted on a wing and a prayer but it's hard not to feel dismayed by the chances for real change and engagement that seem to have been thrown away, especially when the Taliban mention the fact that if somebody had tried diplomacy rather than dynamite, perhaps some kind of deal could have been struck - with better consequences for everybody. After all, it's hard to imagine worse consequences than those yielded by the gung-ho method so far. Brilliantly written, constantly engaging, this book also proves that the writer is not just a man of letters but also of considerable bravery. Would YOU go and meet the Taliban deep in their heartland for a chat, so that you could hear their point of view? Not me - so thank you, James Fergusson.
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A Million Bullets by James Ferguson
A Million Bullets: The Real Story of the War in Afghanistan
A thought provoking and intelligent analysis. Read more
A thought provoking and intelligent analysis. Read more
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Gripping book which gives an accurate and disturbing insight into what our soldiers(the Gurkhas, the Fusiliers, the Royal Irish, the Household Cavalry and the RAF), are faced with... Read more
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