Afghanistan: Transition Under Threat.

J.L. Granatstein is a history professor at York University and author of
War and Peacekeeping and For Better or For Worse.

The papers in this book were presented at a conference sponsored by the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies and the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo in December 2006. The volume was published in 2008, all of which means that it has historical interest only. Not that there is anything wrong with that (as Jerry Seinfeld might have said)—the papers, prepared by a distinguished group of international scholars and practitioners, look at the politics, economics, and security dimensions of the Afghanistan situation and offer sound judgments. There is, in addition, a section of three papers on Canadian concerns, with authors including Nipa Banerjee, who headed CIDA’s operations in Afghanistan, and Colonel Mike Capstick, who was one of the officers on the Strategic Advisory Team that had a real impact on Afghanistan’s governance. The final paper by Geoffrey Hayes, one of the co-editors of the book, offers a useful assessment and analysis of Canada’s military contribution. A good book, in other words, but one whose value is limited by the grinding, slow process of academic publishing.