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y separately published work icon The Sparrows of Kabul single work   autobiography  
Issue Details: First known date: 2023... 2023 The Sparrows of Kabul
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

When the US announced their intention to pull out of Afghanistan by September 2021, few anticipated how quickly the Taliban would overrun the Afghan National Security Forces. As Kabul fell two weeks before the deadline, those with reason to fear the new regime rushed to the airport desperate to find a way out. Seasoned Australian diplomat, Fred Smith, who like many had acquired a passion for the Afghan people, was sent to Kabul airport to help co-ordinate the evacuation of Australian citizens and the many Afghans who had worked for Australia. This is his first-hand account of the evacuation effort, a deeply personal view of a complex mission doomed from the outset to be a partial success. As honest as it is passionate, it’s an important record of a moment when Australia’s soldiers and diplomats did what they could in difficult circumstances. 

(Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Glebe, Glebe - Leichhardt - Balmain area, Sydney Inner West, Sydney, New South Wales,: Brandl and Schlesinger , 2023 .
      image of person or book cover 410122049246692257.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher website.
      Extent: 280p.
      Note/s:
      • Published September 2023

      ISBN: 9781922571854

Works about this Work

The Gate : The Terrible Price of Victory for the Taliban Kevin Foster , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 460 2023; (p. 20-21)

— Review of The Sparrows of Kabul 'Fred' Smith , 2023 single work autobiography

'Diplomat and musician Fred Smith’s memoir of his time with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) at Kabul airport, and later in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), processing Afghan evacuees fleeing the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, opens with a richly symbolic vignette. On his first visit to the North Gate, one of only three public entry points to Kabul airport, Smith is confronted by a nightmare vision of the country’s collapse. Amid a cacophony of screaming and gunfire, thousands of Afghans jostle, push, and kick one another, waving passports, holding babies aloft, as they fight their way towards a narrow gap in the razor wire entrance to the gate, guarded by a human wall of US Marines. Every thirty seconds or so somebody squeezes through the scrum to safety, emerging discomposed, bloodied, and bewildered.' (Introduction)          

The Gate : The Terrible Price of Victory for the Taliban Kevin Foster , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 460 2023; (p. 20-21)

— Review of The Sparrows of Kabul 'Fred' Smith , 2023 single work autobiography

'Diplomat and musician Fred Smith’s memoir of his time with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) at Kabul airport, and later in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), processing Afghan evacuees fleeing the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, opens with a richly symbolic vignette. On his first visit to the North Gate, one of only three public entry points to Kabul airport, Smith is confronted by a nightmare vision of the country’s collapse. Amid a cacophony of screaming and gunfire, thousands of Afghans jostle, push, and kick one another, waving passports, holding babies aloft, as they fight their way towards a narrow gap in the razor wire entrance to the gate, guarded by a human wall of US Marines. Every thirty seconds or so somebody squeezes through the scrum to safety, emerging discomposed, bloodied, and bewildered.' (Introduction)          

Last amended 12 Jun 2023 12:24:42
Subjects:
  • Kabul,
    c
    Afghanistan,
    c
    South Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
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