Afghanistan: the More Things Change, the More they Stay the Same

Zoë Sharp

 ‘The Taliban Islamic militia have come and conquered with stunning speed.’

 

You might think these words were used to describe the situation in Afghanistan in August 2021 as the Taliban took control of the country. In fact, they were written by British journalist David Loyn in September 1996, to describe events as the Taliban last came to power after the departure of Russian forces in 1988/89.

 

The more things change, it seems, the more they stay the same.

 

The past few weeks have seen the withdrawal of coalition troops from Afghanistan after a conflict lasting twenty years. I doubt history will look kindly on the manner in which this evacuation took place. Although I agree with the words of German field marshal and military strategist, Helmuth von Moltke: “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” I’m paraphrasing here, but you get the gist.

 

Even so, I think Field Marshal von Moltke would be shaking his head in horrified wonder at the chaotic scenes we’ve watched on the nightly news, as crowds of desperate Afghans and foreign nationals tried to get aboard the last flights out of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, even as the Taliban were re-taking the city. The sight of people clinging to the outside of a US transport plane as it rolled along the runway, and then falling as it took off, is not one I will soon forget.

 

On August 8, President Biden had announced, “The likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.” This was despite the fact that, as far back as May 20, the UN had reported that the Taliban “now contest or control an estimated fifty to seventy percent of Afghan territory outside of urban centres, while also exerting direct control over fifty-seven percent of district administrative centres.”

 

By August 14, the Taliban controlled all border crossings, with the exception of the airport. The following day, they began their assault on the capital, which surrendered within hours.

 

I realise I’m an outsider in all this, but I still wonder why—when political and military commanders knew well in advance that they were ending operations in Afghanistan—they didn’t begin evacuation of Afghan nationals who had worked alongside the coalition forces via Bagram Airfield, while they still had control of it. It would appear from reports I’ve seen that the last US troops left the base—shutting off the electricity and disappearing into the night—July 1, without a formal handover to the Afghan Armed Forces. Most of the AAF only realised the US troops had gone when the lights went out and the looting started. Although the AAF quickly regained control of Bagram it, too, fell to Taliban forces on August 15.

 

On August 26, a suicide bomber detonated around 25 pounds of explosives and shrapnel outside the Abbey Gate of the airport, killing at least 170 people and wounding 150 others. The Islamic State group IS-K claimed responsibility. This further hampered the evacuation efforts.

 

Although reports claim that 122,300 people were airlifted out of Kabul, tens of thousands were left behind. We are told that some are now living in fear of reprisals for having aided the coalition. Women are frightened of consequences for simply gaining an education, a job, or going about without a chaperone.

 

So far, the new Taliban government appears to be playing nice. They promise we will not see a return to the human rights abuses of the 1990s, when public floggings, amputations, and executions by stoning were commonplace. They even promise that women may continue their education, and return to their government jobs—although not at any kind of high level, obviously…

 

Only time will tell.

 

For me, it was heart-breaking to watch events as they have unfolded in Afghanistan. I took a particular interest as I’ve highlighted the situation there in two of my books. The first of these was Dancing On The Grave, the first of my Lakes crime thrillers. This story features an ex-military sniper who is suffering from PTSD after serving in Afghanistan. The treatment of a teenage Afghan boy who operated as his spotter plays a huge role in the plot.

 

The latest book to feature Afghanistan is a prequel to my Charlie Fox series, Trial Under Fire, which came out in August. The action of this book follows Charlie years before the series proper starts, back when she is still in the British Army and is on what should have been a routine patrol with her unit in Helmand province. At that time, female personnel were not supposed to be put in combat situations. But a helicopter crash and the arrival of a Black Ops team soon throws that out the window. They need Charlie’s ‘very particular set of skills’. How can she say no?

 

This week’s Word of the Week is dustsceawung, which is an Old English word for which there is no direct translation. It means to contemplate the fact that dust used to be other things—we came from dust, and will return to being dust when we are gone. It is supposed to shift one’s focus from the material things in life to subjects with deeper meaning.

 

As well as Trial Under Fire, my latest book out is the Charlie Fox short story collection, Fox Five Reloaded. Available for pre-order is the first in a new series, The Last Time She Died, which will be out in October 2021.

What Annoys You About Author Websites?

Zoë Sharp

These days, just about everybody has a website. The only thing that varies is the quality.

I recently came across an excellent article by Thomas Umstattd Jr on Author Media about how author websites can irritate readers. It makes illuminating reading.

 

Thomas lists in his piece the eight points that are likely to most annoy visitors to your website. As he explains, if you’ve ever tried to find something on a website that’s not intuitive to use, you don’t tend to write to the webmaster with advice, but instead you go to the next competitor on the list and buy from them instead.

 

So, the importance of a well-designed, easy-to-navigate site is really important. It’s an author’s shop window, after all, and you can’t expect to gain customers if they can’t find what they’re looking for.

 

First up is if people can’t find an easy way to buy your latest book. Visitors are used to being able to click on a book cover and go straight to a sales page or sales website. Occasionally, clicking on a book cover simply produces a larger version of the image.

 

Thomas suggests that if your book is available only on Amazon, that you link directly to the book’s page on that site, with a smart link to take them to the store in the correct territory. But, if your book is available from a selection of outlets, then provide suitable sales links for those who are Amazon adverse.

 

Second is if people can’t find the status of your work-in-progress. He suggests using a plugin that will add a progress bar to the website, according to how far through the project you are. This sounds terrifying to me. I think I’d rather stick to the occasional blog post about how the latest book is coming along.

 

Number three on the list is if readers can’t easily contact you. I confess that if I’m deep in a book it can take me a while to respond to messages, but I do try to get to all of them. Thomas suggests several methods of contact, including a PO Box mailing address, a contact form on the website, social media profiles, and even a phone number. I was surprised to see this last one, and I would not willingly give out my phone number on the internet.

 

At the same time, he advises turning off notifications from social media and your email program, to give you the headspace to write.

 

The fourth irritation is if people can’t find your website on Google. Getting the site optimised for search engines is vital. If you don’t have the skills in SEO yourself, then hire a professional. Thomas points out that each book should have an individual page, and anything written on the home page of your website should be in third person, so it mentions your name rather than ‘I’. The same goes for your author biography. It’s very exasperating, if you’re doing a piece on an author, to have to go through their biog, changing every first-person mention to third.

 

Not being able to browse your backlist is at number five on the list, and particularly if people can’t look up the previous books in your series and work out what order they should be read. It’s also a good idea to have a printable list of your backlist books, in order.

 

Number six on the irritation list is if visitors to your site can’t find a good quality image of you, your book covers, or any maps that form a part of your story. Particularly relevant for novels set in a specific location—real or imaginary. As Thomas reminds us, people often read or listen on their phones, where it would be difficult to see the detail of a map on the screen.

 

He advises putting a large resolution image of any maps on the book page of your website, so readers can study them more easily, or including the maps related to a particular book in a blog post. And, of course, having hi-res author photos available for press or PR use.

 

Seven is pop-ups. They can be great and serve a useful purpose if you want to grow your email list. But, it’s the timing of pop-ups that is usually the problem. They appear before you’ve had a chance to read much of anything, and before you’ve decided that yes, you would like to sign up, then are never around later when you want them. Thomas reckons corner pop-ups are less irksome than centre ones, and delaying their arrival tends to work better.

 

Lastly, these days many people will be visiting author websites on their phones rather than via a desktop or laptop, so making sure the website has responsive design that will alter to display to best advantage on a mobile screen is really important.

 

What irritates YOU the most about author websites you’ve visited—or any other websites, for that matter—and what features did you think were really cool? I’d love to know.

 

Meanwhile, if you want to read the full article by Thomas Umstattd Jr, go to Author Media.

 

This week’s Word of the Week is bibliosmia, meaning to smell a book for pleasure, or the aroma of a good book.

 

Events

No events coming up for me, but I do have one book just out, another about to come out, and a third on pre-order for October.

 

TRIAL UNDER FIRE: Charlie Fox prequel, is just out. It tells the story of Charlie from a few years ago, when she was still a young soldier in the regular Army, serving in Afghanistan. ‘The last thing she expected, when she headed out on routine patrol, was to end up riding into a firefight, on horseback, with the Spice Girls…’

 

Available for pre-order and out August 16 2021 is FOX FIVE RELOADED: Charlie Fox short story collection. An extended edition of the original FOX FIVE collection, this now has nine stories, set across the globe, from Lancashire in England, to swanky Long Island, exotic Casablanca, and the hotspot of the Middle East.

 

And finally, a brand new set of characters, THE LAST TIME SHE DIED is the first of a new series, and will be out October 20 2021. ‘She came back on the day of her father’s funeral, ten years after she vanished. But she can’t be who she says she is. Because we killed her. Didn’t we?’