Just an update about the status of the Afghanistan book.
Hill& Wang, a subsidiary of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, is trying to decide whether to release the book in late 2012 or spring 2013. Their books are highly designed and very beautiful, which can lead to long lead times before publication. In addition, the coming 2012 presidential election has them considering the possibility of publishing a collection of my cartoons and prose about the Obama years next year, as an introduction to FSG, with the Afghanistan book following shortly on its heels.

As for the book itself, it is near completion on my end. I am finishing up a graphic novella-formatted history of the Afghanistan War from 2001 to present (a break from the usual "let's start with Alexander the Great and wind up with the Soviet withdrawal, plus Americans!" approach. And I have a bunch of edits to do to the prose. But the book is finished enough that, if I died today, FSG could put it out today.

After I finish the Afghanistan book (in a month or two), I will turn my attention to a political book, a follow-up to my Anti-American Manifesto that describes what kind of transition could and should follow the overthrow of the U.S. government—a topic which the rise of the Occupy movement has made more relevant.

Feel free to get or stay in touch, and thanks again for your support!

Ted

Hi! I wanted to let you know the status of the book project.

The "Afghan Notebook" book for Farrar, Straus & Giroux is moving along nicely. It's going to be a fairly long (about 350 pp.) collection of prose, photos and cartoons about the trip to Afghanistan, framing it as one more example of US foreign policy running amok. Why do we always get ourselves into these quagmires?

The title was always a working title. Now I'm leaning more toward "The Beginning of the End: The US War in Afghanistan in Words and Pictures" or somesuch. If you have a better idea, now would be the time to speak up.

I've written the prose. I owe the publisher captions for the photos and then a 30-page comix-format history of the war from 2001 to 2011. That should all be done within two months. We're looking at a pub date of Spring 2012, partly because it is felt that Afghanistan may be a topic of discussion during the presidential primaries.

In related news, I'm also considering doing a series of documentaries and books about revolutions in practice on the ground, beginning with the Naxalite movement in Nepal and the Niger Delta insurgency.

As my friend and colleague Scott Stantis told me, "There were lots of surprises. That makes it a good trip."

Steven Cloud, Matt Bors and I are back home in the U.S. I was prolific, and editors advised me to build a delay into later blog entries for security reasons, so there are still some more Afghan Notebook cartoons in the pipeline. There will be 47 in all, ending roughly September 15th.

While memories are fresh I'm getting to work on compiling and adding to the book for Hill & Wang, part of Farrar, Strauss & Giroux. We're aiming for a Spring 2012 pub date, but that's sooner than you think…I need to finish the book within the next six months.

So—what did I find out?

Nothing beats seeing things for yourself, and this was no exception. First and foremost, I was shocked to learn that we were the first Americans the Afghans we saw had ever met. How was this possible? The U.S. has occupied this country for nine years. How could shopkeepers have never sold a Coke to a U.S. soldier? A journalist? An NGO worker? After a few weeks "in country," as they say, it became obvious that they were telling the truth. Journalists and soldiers travel in heavily-armed convoys, decked out in body armor. They zoom by, honking their horns and threatening to shoot anyone who doesn't get out of the way quickly enough. They don't walk the streets. They certainly don't hang out with Afghans. No wonder we don't know what's going on.

The infrastructure situation was better than reported. Roads have been paved, bridges rebuilt, cellphone service established more widely than in many places in the U.S. Still, it's not nearly enough, especially considering the billions that have been poured in over there. Corruption and incompetence are rampant.

The security situation is not as bad as people think. It's certainly not like 2001, when it was "Mad Max." Americans thought it was OK then, and worse now. Actually, it's the opposite. But it's still not safe. What has changed is that the Taliban roam unchallenged in rural areas. They effectively control 85 percent of the country, everything outside the big cities. But it's by choice. The U.S. has no presence in the vast majority of the country, and has no role in providing basic security. It sees Afghanistan as a military problem. Actually, it is a nation-building problem. Also, the quality of NGO workers and journalists is worse than in 2001. This generation of Afghan hands are cowards. Like everyone else, Afghans despise cowards.

Right now, Afghans are staring into the abyss. They know we're pulling out. The new generation of Taliban are infinitely more frightening than the old Islamist-but-honest variety. These are gangsters, kidnappers, rapists, Talibs in name only. Apres nous, la deluge.

I'll be posting private excerpts from the upcoming book to Kickstarter contributors exclusively.

P.S. My new book, "The Anti-American Manifesto," hits bookstores this week.

I am not in Afghanistan yet, but am drawing some introductory cartoon blogs to set the scene. The first one just went up at EurasiaNet.org. You can check there as well as at http://rall.com/rallblog for daily updates.

The visas have been acquired: Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and even the much coveted Iranian visa. It was touch and go there for a while: we had to shell out over 3,000 euros to an Iranian fixer just to score the visa, which just got us the document today. And I leave Sunday.

Equipment has been purchased: sleep sacks, backpacks, water purification tablets, Starbucks individual instant coffees, antibiotics, antidiarrhea medications. Satellite equipment has been rented. Solar panels and batteries and video cameras--all the stuff you need to document such a trip and transmit the results.

Tickets have been purchased: New York to Mumbai, Mumbai to Dubai, Dubai to Dushanbe.

Total cost so far: $35,000 plus.

And now I'm leaving Sunday.

I'll start filing the cartoon blogs around August 10, and will enter Afghanistan from Tajikistan, toward Taloqan (which may or not be controlled by the Taliban when we arrive) on August 13. If you contributed, you'll get the blog via Stephanie McMillan, who is my stateside liaison for distribution.

That's the plan, anyway. I'm going with Matt Bors and Steven Cloud, fellow cartoonists and bon vivants.

Oh, and the beard. The beard is looking good, I think, but judge for yourself.

The beard is now entering its third glorious week. The itching has stopped, mostly, and I've just learned about the need to trim the lower mustache to avoid an uncomfortable feeling on my lip. All in all, not a bad first effort. I leave for Asia on August 1 and enter Afghanistan August 13.

On the diplomatic front, I believe it's important to have as many options as possible to exit Afghanistan in the event things turn ugly. August is shaping up to be THE major crunch time for the US occupation, the possible turning point militarily, so anything could happen. And when things happen in Afghanistan, events unfold in minutes and hours. Because our route takes us along the northern and western edges of the country, exiting via Kabul and flying out could be difficult—there is a knot of huge mountains between Kabul and where we'll be. So the best exit points are either to double back into Tajikistan, leave Mazar-i-Sharif across the Friendship Bridge at Termiz into Uzbekistan, enter Turkmenistan north or Herat, or out into Iran at Zaranj.

We have the visas now for Afghanistan and Tajikistan. We have applied to Iran, but that takes a month. We're now waiting to hear back from the Uzbeks. We can't start the process re: Turkmenistan until early July because of the vagaries of their timing protocols.

I'm in Portland today and will be hitting REI for some roughing-it-related supplies.

Wherein your humble hirsute narrator presents, for all to see and regale, the result of 14 days of non shaving in preparation for his August trip back to Afghanistan.

We have our Tajik visas now. The Afghan ones should be ready next week. Iran requires a month, and we're thinking about getting Uzbek visas just in case we need to get out of Dodge (or more accurately Mazar-i-Sharif) in a hurry. I'll be in Portland this week for the editorial cartoonists convention and will go shopping for outdoor equipment there with Matt Bors.

The old Taliban stricture that required visitors to Afghanistan to wear a beard at least the length of a fist (whose fist?) is technically no longer valid. In reality, however, it's important to show respect for a culture where men are expected, in many parts of the country, to display their manhair. So here's what I look like one week after I quit shaving.

In other news, we're waiting for visas from Iran and Tajikistan.

I'm leaving for Afghanistan the second week of August. I have three goals:

1. Go to Taloqan in Takhar Province, to revisit the place where I spent much of the fall of 2001 during the battle of Kunduz. I'll try to track down my fixer and his family to see how they're doing (and give them some money) and see how things have changed during the last nine years of America's longest war. Taloqan has changed hands several times recently between forces loyal to the central government and the Taliban.

2. Visit the site of the construction of the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline project between Turkmenistan and Pakistan. This is supposed to be north of Herat. TAP is one of the most underreported stories of the last decade.

3. Travel to the remote western deserts near the Iranian border where U.S. forces and reporters rarely venture or report from. I will stay with local families to see how life is going for them.

And of course I'll be working on a book for Farrar, Strauss & Giroux's Hill & Wang imprint.

I will also be filing a daily cartoon blog about my observations and experiences along the way.

We'll be "in country" one month—that's the limit set by most media outlets for reporters covering rural Afghanistan, and with good reason. It's a hard place to travel, not just from a security standpoint but also because of the harsh climate and poor food and lodging, not to mention lack of basic infrastructure (running water and electricity).

You can follow our route on the attached map. We'll fly into Dushanbe, Tajikistan, obtain permission from the Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs to enter the restricted 100-kilometer zone along the southern border with Afghanistan, then drive overland to Taloqan, and head west and then south before crossing the border into Iran.

We've purchased our Aeroflot flights to Dubai, ongoing via the tiny Somon Air (two planes!) to Dushanbe, Tajikistan. So we're applying for visas from Tajikistan. We have also applied for media visas for Iran. Since we'll end up in western Afghanistan, it makes sense to drive to Teheran and catch a flight to Europe from there. Hopefully we'll be able to get these without any problem, but we won't know for 25 days, according to the Iranian Interest Section of the Pakistani Embassy in Washington. We're also applying for Turkmen visas to allow for the possibility that we can’t exit through Iran.

Ah, yes. "We"?

Going along will be two of America's most gifted cartoonists, Matt Bors and Steven Cloud. Matt Bors (www.mattbors.com), is a brilliant editorial cartoonist I signed for syndication at United Feature Syndicate. Steven Cloud (www.stevencloud.com) is currently on hiatus from his amazing "Boy on a Stick and Slither" webcomic; hopefully, he will start doing cartoons again in the near future. This will be Matt's first trip outside the United States. Hell-o, diarrhea! Steven caught the Central Asian travel bug last year when he drove a car in a charity rally from eastern Europe to Mongolia via, among other places, Kazakhstan and Russia.

More updates when there's something to say. Wish us luck!

Thank you for your generous support of my project! Thanks to you, I'll be heading back to Afghanistan this summer.

My plan is to go in August. This is a daunting prospect. Not only is it the height of the traditional summer fighting season in Afghanistan, the heat can be heart-stopping. Even in November, the mercury can soar over 100 during the day and plunge to 20 at night, depending on where you are. Particularly in the west, near the Iranian border, I expect to see temps over 110 and even over 120.

Because of my personal and professional schedule, however, this is pretty much the only time of the year I can go before winter comes, and mountain passes get snowed over. June and July is cartoon convention season, and I have a political manifesto coming out this fall that Seven Stories Press will want me to promote. So it will probably be from roughly August 5 to September 15.

I'll likely have one, possibly two cartoonist friends in tow. On past trips I have felt there was safety in numbers. Too many, of course, and you're not nimble. But one or two companions can really help. More on that later as things solidify.

Right now I'm researching flights--I'd like to enter via Tajikistan, but travel to Dushanbe is controlled by the state monopoly Tajik Air, which doesn't offer much service. I may stop in Pakistan first, then fly to Kabul, then drive north to Kunduz.

Another task will be to arrange visas. I will request visas from all neighboring countries: Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. Sometimes, when you need to leave a country, the border is closed. So one needs alternative escape routes.

And of course I'll need supplies. My backpack is the grizzled, duct-taped veteran of many amazing trips to Central Asia and is in danger of falling apart. I need to rent a satellite phone, and will probably have to say adios to this MacPro laptop I'm typing on now (2006 edition) because the Afghan dust kills electronic appliances, and a semi-portable power cell, etc.

I'll try to contact my Tajik fixers as well.

And of course I'll need to try to do as many of my editorial cartoons as possible in advance. Internet access from Afghanistan will be limited to the few big cities through which I pass, and will have narrow bandwidth, plus the oh-so-slow-and-oh-so-expensive 2400 bps satellite phone/laptop gerryrigging setup I'll contend with in the outback.

So basically it's about bureaucracy and supplies for the next few months. As Sherwood Anderson said, life, not death, is the great adventure. But before life can begin, one must complete many forms.

With a few hours more than a day to go, more than 200 supporters came through with the $25,000 I was trying to raise through Kickstarter.

At this writing, there is $25,845 in funding provided by 210 people. (Kickstarter allows supporters to make pledges over the funding amount; any funds over my initial $25,000 request will be used toward trip expenses that would otherwise have come out of my pocket.) Amazing!

Thank you to everyone who pledged funds toward my upcoming return to Afghanistan. I am in awe of your tremendous generosity and commitment to independent journalism, literally putting your money where my mouth is, at a time of extreme economic pain and when the mainstream media seems to have abandoned the search for truth in favor of access. I promise to work hard to justify your trust and faith in me.

I will be posting updates here and elsewhere to keep you advised about the progress of this project. In the next few months, I will need to obtain visas for Afghanistan and neighboring countries, including Iran, arrange flights and alert fixers, find the perfect hat to keep the desert sun off, and consider the painful prospect of growing the world’s ugliest beard. I’m currently planning for a trip throughout the month of August.

I will file blog entries from Afghanistan, and when I get back I’ll have a book to write. And hopefully I will find out some things worth knowing about a country the United States military has been occupying for nearly a decade—with no end in sight.

So close! I'm seriously on pins and needles about this. It's hard to believe the whole $25K won't come through, but at this point it's a 50-50 guess either way. If you've been sitting on the fence, now would be a good time to clamber down and pony up (sorry for the mixed metaphors).

In other Afghanistan-related news, looks like I'll have at least one more cartoonist as a traveling companion (no, they won't be reporting from there, they're along for the ride).

My plan to return to Afghanistan this summer is halfway there--more than 140 backers have put up 50% of the $25,000 I will need (I'm also going to spend about $10,000+ of my own money) to get there and around. War zones are crazy expensive, and this is actually the bargain rate for this sort of journalism, particularly when one isn't backed by a major publication or broadcasting company.

This is the do-or-die phase. I'm halfway there, but there are less than two weeks left. Unless the pace of pledges accelerates, I won't make it. If you have been considering whether or not to participate, please think about it now!

As always, I remain ready, willing and able to answer any and all questions, comments, concerns, etc. about this project.

If this project is successful and I therefore make it to Afghanistan this summer--probably August--I have reached an agreement with Hill & Wang, a division of the major publishing house Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, to publish a resulting book in the format of a reporter's notebook/memoir.

In addition, I am working on the possibility of filing long-form reportage pieces from the frontlines for a major US newspaper.

So if this happens, there will definitely be some great coverage.

Right now, I'm on pins and needles. $11,000 is raised, but there are only 20 days left and $14,000 left to go. Crossing fingers...crossing fingers...Thanks to everyone who has pledged money so far, and feel free to contact me for any reason.

And here's an excerpt from "Silk Road to Ruin," about Central Asia (2006).