Latest: Corruption and Money Laundering.

'Kingdom' Examines Afghanistan Through The Prism Of The Karzai Family.

Journalist Joshua Partlow was in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012, a time of corruption, government dysfunction and civilian hostility to U.S. military operations. His new book is A Kingdom of Their Own

Hamid Karzai - President Afghanistan

DAVE DAVIES, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Dave Davies in for Terry Gross. In 2009, the largest American diplomatic mission in the world was in Kabul, Afghanistan, where the U.S. embassy's budget of $4 billion was four times the country's domestic income. President Obama was sending more troops and civilian personnel to reverse alarming gains the Taliban had made. And so much cash was flowing into the country that President Hamid Karzai's chief of staff had a money counting machine in his office.

Those are some details in a new book from our guest, Washington Post foreign correspondent Joshua Partlow. Partlow was in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012, and his account of those years is a story of government dysfunction, rampant corruption and increasing civilian hostility to American military operations. Partlow looks at the Afghanistan experience through the prism of the Karzai family, the president and his brothers, many educated in America, who became important players in the political strife, corruption and violence in the country. Besides his tour in Afghanistan, Joshua Partlow has done reporting in Iraq and Latin America. He's now The Washington Post's Mexico bureau chief. His book is "A Kingdom Of Their Own: The Family Karzai And The Afghan Disaster."

Well, Joshua Partlow, welcome to FRESH AIR. This is a big family, an influential family in Afghanistan. It includes Hamid Karzai, the president, but many others. You know, we have famous political families in this country. I mean, the Taft's going way back, the Kennedys, probably the most famous. Tell us about this family and why ...

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