Martin’s personal account of efforts to encourage diplomacy and development – which constituted a great deal of on-the-ground work but received little media coverage during his Kandahar posting – illustrates how this volatile mix of action and circumstances served as an unsettling backdrop for many well-intentioned aid workers, diplomats, and military personnel. Enriched with the reflections of two dozen of those colleagues, his memoir describes the adrenalin and exhaustion that marked long, hot days . . .

His contribution to the historical record shows how Canadians, motivated by duty rather than power, by responsibility rather than conquest, attempted to develop the ‘graveyard of empires’ into a peaceful democracy. To Martin, that those efforts failed should not denigrate the value of each individual effort.

I’m certain that every war is a blast furnace, and Tim Martin’s latest book, Unwinnable Peace packs a powerful punch that ought to be required reading for anyone trying to understand the West’s failures and also our hard-won accomplishments in Afghanistan . . . In his unrelenting honest and critical account, based on interviews with some two dozen key decision-makers and participants directly involved with securing and rebuilding Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, Martin takes us on a personal journey into the heart of that furnace.

Tim Martin’s groundbreaking work goes beyond the headlines, uncovering the untold stories behind the conflict . . . His storytelling serves as a testament to the enduring dedication of those who pursued a safe and stable Afghanistan.