Bloomsbury bags Quilty's 'remarkable' account of US withdrawal from Afghanistan

Bloomsbury Academic has netted August in Kabul: America’s Last Days in Afghanistan by award-winning Australian journalist Andrew Quilty.

Senior commissioning editor Atifa Jiwa acquired the English language rights in several major markets for the first-hand account. Bloomsbury plans to publish in June 2023 and holds the rights to publish the English-language edition in all countries except for Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

The book was published by the University of Melbourne Press earlier this year. Its synopsis reads: "August in Kabul is the story of how America’s longest mission came to an abrupt and humiliating end, told through the eyes of Afghans whose lives have been turned upside down: a young woman who harbours dreams of a university education; a presidential staffer who works desperately to hold things together as the government collapses around him; a prisoner in the notorious Bagram Prison who suddenly finds himself free when prison guards abandon their post.

"Quilty was one of a handful of Western journalists who stayed in Kabul as the city fell. This is his account of those dramatic final days, illustrated by his own extraordinary photographs taken during the evacuation of the city."

Quilty said: “The coincidence of the withdrawal of American and international military forces, the collapse of the Afghan Republic and the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan marked a chaotic end to the longest war in American history. History tells us that not even this humiliating defeat will prevent the US from making similar mistakes in the future, but it is my hope that Bloomsbury’s publication of this first-hand account will at least stand as a cautionary tale.”

Jiwa added: “A first-hand account of the fall of Kabul in August 2021, Quilty’s debut publication offers a remarkable record of this devastating moment. As the horror of the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan continues to unfold, books such as this are vital in depicting what really happened during the US withdrawal from the country. We couldn’t be prouder to be bringing it to readers around the world.”