What the Taliban told me
Fritz, Ian, 1990-2024
Book
When Ian Fritz joined the Air Force at eighteen, he did so out of necessity. He hadn't been accepted into college thanks to an indifferent high school career. He'd too often slept through his classes as he worked long hours at a Chinese restaurant to help pay the bills. But the Air Force recognized his potential and sent him to the elite Defense Language Institute to learn Dari and Pashto, the primary languages spoken in Afghanistan. Fritz became an airborne cryptologic linguist and one of only a tiny number of people trained to do this job on low-flying gunships. He monitored communications on the ground and determined in real time which Afghans were Taliban and which were innocent civilians. This eavesdropping was critical to supporting Special Forces units in action, but there was no training to counter the emotional complexity that developed as Fritz listened to people's most intimate conversations and made life-or-death decisions about them. The more Fritz listened, the more he learned about the people of Afghanistan, the war, and himself.
Main title:
What the Taliban told me / Ian Fritz.
Author:
Fritz, Ian, 1990-, author
Work:
Edition:
First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition.
Imprint:
New York : Simon and Schuster, 2024.©2023.
Collation:
288 pages ; 22 cm.
Notes:
This book grew from the essay "What I Learned While Eavesdropping on the Taliban," first published in the Atlantic.Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN:
9781668010679 (paperback)9781668010693 (hardcover)9781668010686 (ebook)
Dewey class:
958.1047480973B/
Language:
English
Added title:
Subject:
Fritz, Ian, 1990-United States. United States. Air Force -- Linguists -- BiographyUnited States. Air Force. Intelligence Squadron, 25th (2008- )TalibanOperation Enduring Freedom, 2001-2014 -- Personal narratives, AmericanAfghan War, 2001-2021 -- Aerial operations, AmericanSpecial operations (Military science) -- United States -- History -- 21st centuryAfghan War, 2001-2021 -- CommunicationsAutobiographiesPersonal narratives
BRN:
2289112