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Not Our Problem
- Author
- Spencer Sullivan
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 20 June 2026
- Run Time
- 8 hours 59 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
In an Afghan village, a boy learns his letters under a mullah’s stick and dreams of a life free of the Taliban; in Virginia, a cadet learns to read a map and lead a platoon into combat.
Years later, on a wind-scoured ridgeline overlooking Zabul Province, helicopters roaring overhead, Afghan interpreter Abdulhaq Sodais and US Army Lieutenant Spencer Sullivan must learn to trust each other if they hope to survive.
In 2021, when the United States withdraws from Afghanistan, the Taliban reassert their rule, disappearing, torturing, and killing US collaborators, including Abdulhaq’s fellow interpreters. Yet Abdulhaq’s applications for asylum in America are repeatedly denied.
With the Taliban closing in, Abdulhaq embarks on a cross-continental trek toward freedom. Caught up in the global refugee crisis, Abdulhaq must surrender himself to safehouses and human smugglers while Spencer fights his own war back in the United States to honor America’s promise.
Not Our Problem, a war memoir and refugee story revealed in alternating voices, follows an Afghan refugee and an American soldier across borders and continents, tracing the long distance between a promise and its keeping—interrogating a world in crisis while celebrating how friendship can outlast the war that created it.
Critics Review
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“Sodais’s chapters are stark and embodied, grounded in trauma and the constant threat interpreters face as ‘traitors,’ while Sullivan’s voice is measured, dissecting the ethical compromises of command. Their juxtaposition is devastating…Both narratives show what it means to risk everything for a foreign power whose protection can evaporate without explanation.”
Publishers Weekly
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“Not Our Problem is neither a war story nor a love story. It isn’t even new. As old as war, as enduring as friendship, and as inspiring as only the human spirit can be, it is a reminder of what truly matters.”
General Stanley A. McChrystal (USA, Ret.)
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“The dual-narrative structure injects excitement into an already gripping read; the story of their shared burden mirrors countless US servicemembers and their Afghan allies. This is important work and a must-read.”
Jake Tapper, CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent
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“The bonds forged in war cannot often be adequately explained to those who have not lived it themselves…If you’ve ever wondered why so many American soldiers will go to the ends of the earth for their Afghan allies, read this book.”
Matt Zeller, co-founder, No One Left Behind
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“A ringer of a tale about war, duty, friendship, and the long tail of our promises…They remind us that—in a democratic society—what our government does, or doesn’t do, in our name is very much our problem.”
Nathaniel Fick, New York Times bestselling author
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Spencer Sullivan
- Narrator
- Grover Gardner, Assaf Cohen, Chris Abell
- Duration
- 8 hours 59 minutes
- Release Date
- 20 June 2026
- ISBN
- 9798228519381
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Refugees and political asylum
Synopsis
In an Afghan village, a boy learns his letters under a mullah’s stick and dreams of a life free of the Taliban; in Virginia, a cadet learns to read a map and lead a platoon into combat.Years later, on a wind-scoured ridgeline overlooking Zabul Province, helicopters roaring overhead, Afghan interpreter Abdulhaq Sodais and US Army Lieutenant Spencer Sullivan must learn to trust each other if they hope to survive.In 2021, when the United States withdraws from Afghanistan, the Taliban reassert their rule, disappearing, torturing, and killing US collaborators, including Abdulhaq’s fellow interpreters. Yet Abdulhaq’s applications for asylum in America are repeatedly denied.With the Taliban closing in, Abdulhaq embarks on a cross-continental trek toward freedom. Caught up in the global refugee crisis, Abdulhaq must surrender himself to safehouses and human smugglers while Spencer fights his own war back in the United States to honor America’s promise.Not Our Problem, a war memoir and refugee story revealed in alternating voices, follows an Afghan refugee and an American soldier across borders and continents, tracing the long distance between a promise and its keeping—interrogating a world in crisis while celebrating how friendship can outlast the war that created it.
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