Can Merey unfolds a unique and comprehensive look at the population of war-torn Afghanistan. Hardly any other book thus far has been able to portray the face of the individual. As a dpa correspondent Merey has been regularly traveling to Afghanistan and observing the country for over five years. In lengthy interviews with foreign diplomats, the military and aid workers as well as with Afghans, Merey provides a detailed picture of the situation there. He analyses the political state in Afghanistan, portraying both the victims and protagonists of the war. On his travels to various parts of the country he describes the military conflicts, the people's suffering as well as the business in drugs and the loss of humanity in a sheer hopeless situation. One example is a man who wants to join the Taliban and send his two elder sons (7 and 10) to be suicide bombers, because the ISAF accidentally shot his eldest son. Merey also sits next to a man crying because the Taliban executed his son after the government refused an exchange of prisoners. He talks to a German soldier and an afghan girl who both survived a suicide bomb attack only a few weeks previously. And Merey is the first German who the afghan secret service allows to interview two suicide attackers. The author vividly weaves together the people's journeys through life into an overall picture of the events determining the present and affecting the future.

Vorwort Danksagung Farhad - statt einer Einleitung Das neue Afghanistan "Das grenzt an Erpressung" - Der Demokratisierungsversuch "Wir verlieren unsere Glaubwürdigkeit" - Der Wiederaufbau "Es wird kostant weiter nach unten gehen" - Die Korruption "Karsai hat seine Versprechen nicht erfült" - Die Verlierer "Extrem riskant" - Die Sicherheitslage Der unterschätzte Gegner "Ein wahres Problem aus der Hölle" - Selbstmordattentäter "Der Basar ist eröffnet" - Geiselnahmen "Staatsfeind Nummer Eins" - Drogen "Kommt und nehmt teil an den Wahlen" - Gespräche mit den Taliban? "Zeremonienmeister des Terrors" - Propaganda "Pakistan will uns zu Sklaven machen" - Der Einfluss des Nachbarn Das militärische Experiment "Eine Scharade der Solidarität" - Die Zerreißprobe der NATO Feldimpressionen - Amerikaner, Holländer und Deutsche "Ein klares Missverständnis" - Die verschiedenen Ansätze "Bundeswehr raus aus Afghanistan" - Die innenpolitische Debatte "Ein Dreck hat sich positiv entwickelt" - Der Aufbau der Sicherheitskräfte "Diesen Leuten stellst Du keine Fragen" - Söldner "Sie haben ein Kind getötet" - Zivile Opfer bei Militäreinsätzen Resumee Quellen Glossar Index