Farewell Kabul

‘As a personal account of this sad, twisted story, Lamb’s book is unlikely to be surpassed; gracious and humane, she always gives a fair hearing, while her observation is always needle sharp. It is one of the most rewarding and thought-provoking books by any journalist of my acquaintance’ Evening Standard

‘This is a journey through more than a decade of hell and futility, written vividly, with emotion but mercifully shorn of polemic … in this most captivating of war journals’ Observer

‘A spellbinding synthesis of analysis and highly personal reportage … Lamb’s grasp of the back story enables her to weave illuminating historical context into the narrative’ Independent

‘She records with a clear eye and a longer perspective her successive encounters with the Afghans and their occupiers …she writes with sympathy and understanding … For anyone who wants to understand how Britain’s road to Helmand was paved with well-meant but ill-founded intentions this magisterial memoir is the book to read and enjoy’ The Times

‘A brave and exceptional book … if you had to recommend one book on Afghanistan then ‘Farewell Kabul’ should be it” Daily Telegraph

‘As a personal account of this sad, twisted story, Lamb’s book is unlikely to be surpassed; gracious and humane, she always gives a fair hearing, while her observation is always needle sharp. It is one of the most rewarding and thought-provoking books by any journalist of my acquaintance’ Evening Standard

‘Authoritative, wide-ranging and thoroughly readable, Lamb’s knowledge and understanding of the region and its central players are impressively profound … Highly recommended’ Literary Review

‘A very good book … that sits with distinction in a growing library about where we – both Afghans and the international community – went wrong … Lamb has a forensic understanding of how things work and why they don’t. An impassioned, at moments anguished, love letter to Afghanistan’ New Statesman

Christina Lamb is Foreign Affairs Correspondent for the Sunday Times. She was named Foreign Correspondent of the Year in all the British media awards in 2002 for her reporting on the war on terrorism. She has won numerous other awards starting with Young Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards for her coverage of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, a country she has been reporting on since she was 21, News Reporter of the Year, Foreign Reporter of the Year in the British Press Awards and What the Papers Say Awards. She is the author of the best-selling The Africa House as well as Waiting For Allah – Pakistan’s struggle for democracy, The Sewing Circles of Herat, My Afghan Years and House of Stone.