The national bestseller about one soldier’s battle against the Taliban and for his own future

A Hill-Times Book of the Year

Captain Robert Semrau’s military trial made international headlines—a Canadian soldier serving in Afghanistan arrested for allegedly killing a grievously wounded Taliban soldier in the field. For more than two years, Semrau faced an uncertain future that hinged on an incident blurred by the fog of war.

In The Taliban Don’t Wave, Semrau has written an emotionally draining and mind-snapping first-hand account not of his alleged crime, but of war on the ground in Afghanistan. Raw and explosive, this is a book about soldiers who live, fight and die in a moonscape of a country where it is always hard to tell friend from enemy. In the national bestseller The Taliban Don’t Wave, Robert Semrau takes you with him on a journey you may not be ready for, into the sheer hell that is “The Stan.”

With a foreword by Major-General (Ret’d) Lewis MacKenzie and a preface by Michael Friscolanti.

ROBERT SEMRAU is a former combat soldier with the 3rd Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment; he deployed with Task Force 3-08 Battle Group in Helmand and Kandahar provinces in Afghanistan in 2008. A captain, he led a small, specialized unit of Canadian mentors working side by side with the Afghan National Army during combat operations. Married to the same incredible woman who saw him through the ordeal and the father of two girls, Semrau is now employed as a security consultant around the world.

Robert Semrau's profile page

“An astonishing book. More than any account I’ve seen, it tells vividly and graphically what it’s like to be an infantry soldier in Afghanistan.” — Huffington Post

“A stark, searing portrait of the chaos in the Afghan war.” — Canadian Press

“An unvarnished view of [Semrau’s] experience mentoring Afghan troops.” — The Globe and Mail

“Semrau’s account of his tour is more than a valuable addition to the growing library chronicling this era of Canadian combat.” — Calgary Herald

“With its description of close encounters with roadside bombs and accounts of heroin-high Afghan police, his book is sure to give readers a more personal account of the war than they are likely to see in the mainstream media.” — The Waterloo Region Record

“[Semrau’s] words are the echoes of thousands of Canadian soldiers who have gone before from the Boer War to the War on Terror and all of the frustrations, danger and illogic that is a war zone.” — The Mackenzie Institute