"A man and a motorcycle", a book written by Bette Dam, a Dutch journalist based in Afghanistan, reveals some unknown facets of former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and his journey towards the highest office of his land.
Dam recently visited India to launch her book.
"Through the book, you get to know a leader which is Hamid Karzai, you get to know more about leadership and what leadership in Afghanistan means, and Hamid Karzai is an example of this, and I sometimes think, it could have been any leader in Afghanistan. It is their way of pragmatic and opportunistic deal making, of surviving, so they don't see through ideological glasses, they have more will power, a will to survive. So, that is the message of the book, I think," said Dam.
Dam, who has been living in Afghanistan for the past six years, did extensive research before writing the book.
It took her two years to complete the book after interviewing 150 key figures close to Karzai not only in Afghanistan, but also in Pakistan, the U.S. and some European countries.
Dam enjoys staying in Afghanistan.
Also Read
"I have been in Iraq, that was a very difficult conflict for me, but Afghanistan wasn't like that, and isn't like that, though it is getting worse and worse because of corruption, and, the people cannot trust the government any more. But overall, there is lot of things going on, normal life. 99 percent is normal life, and, you would not know about this," added the journalist.
Dam also believes that the new government in Afghanistan will help bring stability and peace in the country.
However, the main challenge remains tackling corruption.
"I think challenges of Ashraf Ghani are basically the corrupt government that in Hamid Karzai's time it was politics for friends and that has created a very difficult structure that has also created certain individuals like in Mazar-e Sharif and Kandhahar where there are governors of Police commandos who act like war-lords. It's very difficult to do very positive to do with them because they are millionaires and they are very powerful and that is the biggest challenge for Ashraf Ghani to deal with them and to improve," Dam explained.
Dam is now working on a book about the Taliban.
.