Men's Journal

British former soldier Rory Stewart sees a path to success in Afghanistan, and it doesn’t involve more troops.

Interviewed by Rob Buchanan

In 2002, while walking the width of Afghanistan (as part of a broader 6,000-mile trek across Asia), Rory Stewart drank tea and conversed with local headmen, slept on mud floors, and got shot at — eventually turning his trek into The Places in Between, a spare, lyrical account that became a bestseller. In 2003 he was appointed deputy governor of two provinces in southern Iraq, an experience that led to The Prince of the Marshes. Since then, Stewart became CEO of a charity preserving traditional Afghan architecture and landed a plum professorship at Harvard. But as the 36-year-old former tutor of Princes Harry and William prepares to run for a seat in parliament, it’s his radical thinking on U.S. policy in Afghanistan that has Americans taking notice.

MJ: You’ve said that President Obama has become “boxed in” on Afghanistan. What alternative solution would you suggest?

RS: America needs to be respectful but also a bit more detached. To imagine that it has the military power to stabilize a country like Afghanistan once and for all, or to transform its economy, or to create an effective, legitimate state, is a mistake. The U.S. needs to be more honest about its own limitations. One of the things that’s great about America is that kind of can-do attitude. But in relation to Afghanistan, there’s a certain understanding that, to some extent, no, you can’t.

But what can we do other than escalate?

Acknowledge the relationship of the United States to a country that is as poor and fragile as Afghanistan is after a 30-year war. It’s a bit like being with a person who’s been through a traumatic situation — you have to lower your expectations of how quickly they can change. You don’t want to pump in more and more troops and money, which is equivalent to rapid electroshock therapy. What you want is a patient, long-term relationship. In order to sustain that, I suspect we need to have much fewer troops.

Won’t people see that as a surrender?

You don’t have a moral obligation to do what you can’t do. We try to do what we can, but almost certainly the best scenario we can hope for is some kind of political settlement, where instead of a civil war or partition, the Taliban share power.

What do you think of Richard Holbrooke?

I’m an enormous admirer, even though we disagree on everything, especially Afghanistan policy. He’s somebody I’d like to be more like — he’s blunt and bold, and he doesn’t let anybody get away with anything. I’m just not at all confident he’s gonna pull this one off. I think this may be, sadly, one of the times he’s wrong.

You’re often compared to T.E. Lawrence or Byron. Who was the bigger influence?

I was actually more interested in reading biographies of Lawrence than anything written by him. He was a great man, but not a great writer. Byron definitely had an influence on me, but a negative one: One reason I decided to walk across Asia was that Byron didn’t. It annoyed me that he was always climbing on a bus, focusing on monuments instead of talking to people.

Any tips to pass on to fellow travelers?

Number one, always wear two pairs of socks. Number two, excessive politeness is always the answer. Number three, to ward off a pack of angry dogs, it’s not necessary to pick up a stone. All you have to do is pretend — just stoop and touch the ground.

If your aim is to have a lasting influence on Afghanistan, why run for parliament?

If my main objective were to influence Afghanistan, I could remain at Harvard. There I’m lucky enough to talk to really influential people and play some role in the debate. I’m becoming a member of parliament because I believe in it and want to represent a real constituency. It’s England’s largest, stretching from the Scottish border down to the Yorkshire Dales. For somebody who likes walking, it’s a dream constituency.

Would you walk Afghanistan again today?

I would be tempted, because I’d want to show that Afghan communities remain incredibly hospitable, that they’re able to run their own security. It would be possible, but maybe not the same route — I might have to skirt some areas of war — but I could do it, and that suggests something about the gap between the way the media reports Afghanistan and what life is actually like.

So is visiting Afghanistan realistic?

Sure it is. Up in the Wakhan Corridor, the tongue of land in the northeast, you can go on great two-week treks, and that’s pretty safe — the Aga Khan Development Network has trained local guides there. Recently I’ve been ski touring with skins on my skis in the Hindu Kush; sometimes I even go by myself. Grab your skins and head to Afghanistan — that would be my advice.

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This article originally appeared in the December 2009/January 2010 issue of Men’s Journal.