Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction • A New York Times bestseller“The CIA itself would be hard put to beat his grasp of global events . . . Deeply satisfying.” —The New York Review of BooksFrom the award-winning and bestselling author of Directorate S and The Achilles Trap comes the explosive first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan.To what extent did America’s best intelligence analysts grasp the rising thread of Islamist radicalism? Who tried to stop bin Laden and why did they fail? Comprehensively and for the first time, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll recounts the history of the covert wars in Afghanistan that fueled Islamic militancy and sowed the seeds of the September 11 attacks. Based on scrupulous research and firsthand accounts by key government, intelligence, and military personnel both foreign and American, Ghost Wars details the secret history of the CIA’s role in Afghanistan (including its covert operations against Soviet troops from 1979 to 1989), the rise of the Taliban, the emergence of bin Laden, and the failed efforts by U.S. forces to find and assassinate bin Laden in Afghanistan. Read more

Beginning in 1947, when "India and Pakistan were born to conflict," renowned India scholar Stanley Wolpert provides an authoritative, accessible primer on what is potentially the world's most dangerous crisis. He concisely distills sixty-three years of complex history, tracing the roots of the relationship between these two antagonists, explaining the many attempts to resolve their disputes, and assessing the dominant political leaders. While the tragic Partition left many urgent problems, none has been more difficult than the problem over Kashmir, claimed by both India and Pakistan. This intensely divisive issue has triggered two conventional wars, killed some 100,000 Kashmiris, and almost ignited two nuclear wars since 1998, when both India and Pakistan openly emerged as nuclear-weapon states. In addition to providing a comprehensive perspective on the origin and nature of this urgent conflict, Wolpert examines all the proposed solutions and concludes with a road map for a brighter future for South Asia. Read more

Churchill's First War by Con Coughlin is a fascinating account of Winston Churchill's early military career fighting in the 1890 Afghan campaign, offering fresh and revealing parallels into today's war in AfghanistanJust over a century ago British troops were fighting a vicious frontier war against Pashtun tribeman on the North West Frontier—the great-great-grandfathers of the Taliban and tribal insurgents in modern-day Afghanistan. Winston Churchill, then a young cavalry lieutenant, wrote a vivid account of what he saw during his first major campaign. The Story of the Malakand Field Force, published in 1898, was Churchill's first book and, a hundred years later, is required reading for military commanders on the ground, both British and American.In Churchill's First War, acclaimed author and foreign correspondent, Con Coughlin tells the story of that campaign, a story of high adventure and imperial success, which contains many lessons and warnings for today. Combining historical narrative, interviews with contemporary key players, and the journalist's eye for great color and analysis, Churchill's First War affords us a rare insight into both the nineteenth-century "Great Game" and the twenty-first-century conflict that has raged longer than World War II. Read more

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction • Nominated for the National Book Award for NonfictionFrom the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars and The Achilles Trap, the epic and enthralling story of America's intelligence, military, and diplomatic efforts to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 9/11Prior to 9/11, the United States had been carrying out small-scale covert operations in Afghanistan, ostensibly in cooperation, although often in direct opposition, with I.S.I., the Pakistani intelligence agency. While the US was trying to quell extremists, a highly secretive and compartmentalized wing of I.S.I., known as "Directorate S," was covertly training, arming, and seeking to legitimize the Taliban, in order to enlarge Pakistan's sphere of influence. After 9/11, when fifty-nine countries, led by the U. S., deployed troops or provided aid to Afghanistan in an effort to flush out the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the U.S. was set on an invisible slow-motion collision course with Pakistan.Today we know that the war in Afghanistan would falter badly because of military hubris at the highest levels of the Pentagon, the drain on resources and provocation in the Muslim world caused by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and corruption. But more than anything, as Coll makes painfully clear, the war in Afghanistan was doomed because of the failure of the United States to apprehend the motivations and intentions of I.S.I.'s "Directorate S". This was a swirling and shadowy struggle of historic proportions, which endured over a decade and across both the Bush and Obama administrations, involving multiple secret intelligence agencies, a litany of incongruous strategies and tactics, and dozens of players, including some of the most prominent military and political figures. A sprawling American tragedy, the war was an open clash of arms but also a covert melee of ideas, secrets, and subterranean violence. Coll excavates this grand battle, which took place away from the gaze of the American public. With unsurpassed expertise, original research, and attention to detail, he brings to life a narrative at once vast and intricate, local and global, propulsive and painstaking. This is the definitive explanation of how America came to be so badly ensnared in an elaborate, factional, and seemingly interminable conflict in South Asia. Nothing less than a forensic examination of the personal and political forces that shape world history, Directorate S is a complete masterpiece of both investigative and narrative journalism. Read more

The first English-language book to examine the crucial part air power played in the Soviet-Afghan War.The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan was fought as much in the air as on the ground. From the high-level bombing raids that blasted rebel-heldmountain valleys, to the Mi-24 helicopter gunships and Su-25 jets that accompaniedevery substantial army operation, Soviet control of the air was a crucial battlefield asset. Vital to every aspect of its operations, Mi-8 helicopters ferried supplies to remote mountain-top observation points and took the bodies of fallen soldiers on their last journey home in An12 'Black Tulips'. But this was not a wholly one-sided conflict. Even before the Afghan rebels began to acquire man-portable surface-to-air missiles such as the controversial US 'Stinger,' they aggressively and imaginatively adapted. They learnt new techniques of camouflage and deception, set up ambushes against low-level attacks, and even launched daring raids on airbases to destroy aircraft on the ground.Featuring information previously unknown in the West, such as the Soviets' combat-testing of Yak-38 'Forger' naval jump jets, Soviet-expert Mark Galeotti examines the rebel, Kabul government and the Soviet operation in Afghanistan, drawing deeply on Western and Russian sources, and including after-action analyses from the Soviet military. Using maps, battlescenes and detailed 'Bird's Eye Views', he paints a comprehensive picture of the air war and describes how, arguably, it was Soviet air power that made the difference between defeatfor Moscow and the subsequent stalemate that they decided to disengage from. Read more

An account of the USSR’s defeat in Afghanistan drawing on many interviews with Soviet veterans: “Fascinating. . . . A highly readable history of the conflict.” —The New York Times Book ReviewIn this groundbreaking account of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, former NPR Moscow correspondent Gregory Feifer vividly depicts the war that contributed greatly to the demise of the USSR, and that offers striking lessons for the twenty-first century as well. Told primarily from the perspective of the Russians who fought it, The Great Gamble offers valuable insight into the history of Afghanistan’s troubled government and the rise of the mujahideen and Al-Qaeda. “Feifer has done truly extraordinary research . . . For all its heft, [The Great Gamble] is an effortless read—an unusual and gratifying combination.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune“A provocative and important book, telling us what the Soviet military was thinking and feeling as it lost its war in Afghanistan. Gregory Feifer vividly shows that their campaigns there amounted to a manual of how not to do it.” —Thomas Ricks, author of Fiasco“Thoughtful, deliberative use of eyewitness testimony gives an intensely close-up sense of what the war was like for those who fought it.” —Kirkus Reviews“Brings to life in spirited detail the bloody, eight-year struggle that killed a million Afghans and tens of thousands of Russians and broke the back of the Soviet Union, which disappeared within two years of the war’s end. You think it can’t happen to us? Read Feifer.” —Thomas Powers, Pulitzer Prize-winner and author of Heisenberg’s War Read more

From William Dalrymple—award-winning historian, journalist and travel writer—a masterly retelling of what was perhaps the West’s greatest imperial disaster in the East, and an important parable of neocolonial ambition, folly and hubris that has striking relevance to our own time. With access to newly discovered primary sources from archives in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia and India—including a series of previously untranslated Afghan epic poems and biographies—the author gives us the most immediate and comprehensive account yet of the spectacular first battle for Afghanistan: the British invasion of the remote kingdom in 1839. Led by lancers in scarlet cloaks and plumed helmets, and facing little resistance, nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the mountain passes from India into Afghanistan in order to reestablish Shah Shuja ul-Mulk on the throne, and as their puppet. But after little more than two years, the Afghans rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into rebellion. This First Anglo-Afghan War ended with an entire army of what was then the most powerful military nation in the world ambushed and destroyed in snowbound mountain passes by simply equipped Afghan tribesmen. Only one British man made it through.But Dalrymple takes us beyond the bare outline of this infamous battle, and with penetrating, balanced insight illuminates the uncanny similarities between the West’s first disastrous entanglement with Afghanistan and the situation today. He delineates the straightforward facts: Shah Shuja and President Hamid Karzai share the same tribal heritage; the Shah’s principal opponents were the Ghilzai tribe, who today make up the bulk of the Taliban’s foot soldiers; the same cities garrisoned by the British are today garrisoned by foreign troops, attacked from the same rings of hills and high passes from which the British faced attack. Dalryrmple also makes clear the byzantine complexity of Afghanistan’s age-old tribal rivalries, the stranglehold they have on the politics of the nation and the ways in which they ensnared both the British in the nineteenth century and NATO forces in the twenty-first. Informed by the author’s decades-long firsthand knowledge of Afghanistan, and superbly shaped by his hallmark gifts as a narrative historian and his singular eye for the evocation of place and culture, The Return of a King is both the definitive analysis of the First Anglo-Afghan War and a work of stunning topicality. Read more

Chosen one of 5 Books Everyone Should Read in Their LifetimeThe 2022 Edition now available.How far would you go to save strangers in need? A platoon of Marines and their military working dogs, MWD, are about to find out. An educated woman makes the ultimate sacrifice to teach girls to read. She leaves behind a daughter and a son whose lives become intertwined with those of the U.S. Marines. But the Taliban is infiltrated everywhere and is hard to differentiate between friend and foe. As vivid as a movie, you will share the life of the Marines deployed in an Afghan military base; climb the breathtaking Hindu-Kush Mountains to a secluded Taliban camp; dive in the belly of ancient Qala-e-Bost fortress in the middle of a battle, and experience the culture of the Afghan people. Silent Heroes is a race against time, “an emotional rollercoaster of a read,” a page-turner, a thrilling contemporary story with a vivid sense of the place, history and politics that shines a light on the humanity of the Marines and their special relationship with their canine buddies. The utterly thrilling war fiction read inspired by true events from a Historical Fiction bestselling author - it will keep you gripped until the final page. Chosen one of 5 Books Everyone Should Read in Their LifetimeFrom the author of the Amazon Historical Fiction Bestseller Joyful Trouble comes Silent Heroes, When Love and Values Are Worth Fighting for - ‘a book not to be missed. (Mandie Griffiths, Book Reviewer) For readers of Kite Runner, A Dog's Way Home and The Operator.Readers are loving Silent Heroes:‘Although this is a work of fiction there are truths to it that will tug at your heart. For anyone who has not read one of Patricia’s books then I would recommend this one.’ (5 stars) Mandie Griffiths ‘Have you ever read a fiction novel but felt as if you were reading a true account of events instead? This was my experience while reading Patricia Furstenberg’s Silent Heroes. Regardless of your usual preferred genre, this is an excellent read … will stay in your heart and mind long after finishing.’ (5 stars) Dandelion Inspired ‘If you’re looking for a fast paced read I really can’t recommend this book highly enough. It’s a definite must read.’ (5 stars) Mani’s Book Corner ’I strongly recommend this book to EVERYONE!’ (5 stars) Bunny’s Pause ‘A fantastic, action packed, captivating and emotional tale then will take you on a rollercoaster. Definitely recommended by me!’ Curled Up With a Good Book ‘The writing is wonderful… Great book to experience something different than a traditional suspense or mystery read.’ (5 stars) Goodreads Reviewer ’I recommend this book to anyone … who wants a novel with plenty of action and great characters.’ (5 stars) Goodreads Reviewer ‘Incredibly well researched, and provides many edge of the seat moments… Highly recommended.’ (5 stars) Goodreads Reviewer ‘It was also very interesting to read about the important role Military Working Dogs played in the US Marines’ war against the Taliban insurgents.’ (5 stars) Goodreads Reviewer ‘A story that uplifts with its portrayal of people who continue to care for others despite the dangers they face every day. A great read. (5 stars) Goodreads Reviewer ’The entire story feels urgent, totally against the clock.… A well-researched, thought-provoking and ultimately insightful consideration of life in the military.’ (Goodreads Reviewer) Read more

A true-life Catch-22 set in the deeply dysfunctional countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, by one of the region’s longest-serving correspondents. Kim Barker is not your typical, impassive foreign correspondent—she is candid, self-deprecating, laugh-out-loud funny. At first an awkward newbie in Afghanistan, she grows into a wisecracking, seasoned reporter with grave concerns about our ability to win hearts and minds in the region. In The Taliban Shuffle, Barker offers an insider’s account of the “forgotten war” in Afghanistan and Pakistan, chronicling the years after America’s initial routing of the Taliban, when we failed to finish the job. When Barker arrives in Kabul, foreign aid is at a record low, electricity is a pipe dream, and of the few remaining foreign troops, some aren’t allowed out after dark. Meanwhile, in the vacuum left by the U.S. and NATO, the Taliban is regrouping as the Afghan and Pakistani governments floun­der. Barker watches Afghan police recruits make a travesty of practice drills and observes the disorienting turnover of diplomatic staff. She is pursued romantically by the former prime minister of Pakistan and sees adrenaline-fueled col­leagues disappear into the clutches of the Taliban. And as her love for these hapless countries grows, her hopes for their stability and security fade. Swift, funny, and wholly original, The Taliban Shuffle unforgettably captures the absurdities and tragedies of life in a war zone. Read more

Protected by vast mountains and seas, the Indian subcontinent might seem a nearly complete and self-contained world with its own religions, philosophies, and social systems. And yet this ancient land and its varied societies experienced prolonged and intense interaction with the peoples and cultures of East and Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa, and especially Central Asia and the Iranian plateau.   Richard M. Eaton tells this extraordinary story with relish and originality, as he traces the rise of Persianate culture, a many-faceted transregional world connected by ever-widening networks across much of Asia. Introduced to India in the eleventh century by dynasties based in eastern Afghanistan, this culture would become progressively indigenized in the time of the great Mughals (sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries). Eaton brilliantly elaborates the complex encounter between India's Sanskrit culture—an equally rich and transregional complex that continued to flourish and grow throughout this period—and Persian culture, which helped shape the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire, and a host of regional states. This long-term process of cultural interaction is profoundly reflected in the languages, literatures, cuisines, attires, religions, styles of rulership and warfare, science, art, music, and architecture—and more—of South Asia. Read more

The story of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan is well known: the expansionist Communists overwhelmed a poor country as a means of reaching a warm-water port on the Persian Gulf. Afghan mujahideen upset their plans, holding on with little more than natural fighting skills, until CIA agents came to the rescue with American arms. Humiliated in battle, the Soviets hastily retreated. It is a great story-but it never happened. In this brilliant, myth-busting account, Rodric Braithwaite, the former British ambassador to Moscow, challenges much of what we know about the Soviets in Afghanistan. He provides an inside look at this little-understood episode, using first-hand accounts and piercing analysis to show the war as it was fought and experienced by the Russians. The invasion was a defensive response to a chaotic situation in the Soviets' immediate neighbor. They intended to establish a stable, friendly government, secure the major towns, and train the police and armed forces before making a rapid exit. But the mission escalated, as did casualties. Braithwaite does not paint the occupation as a Russian triumph. To the contrary, he illustrates the searing effect of the brutal conflict on soldiers, their families, and the broader public, as returning veterans struggled to regain their footing back home. Now available in paperback, Braithwaite carries readers through these complex and momentous events, capturing those violent and tragic days as no one has done before. Read more

The bestselling true story of a Texas congressman’s secret role in the Afghan defeat of Russian invaders is “a tour de force of reporting and writing” (Dan Rather).   A New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times bestseller.   Charlie Wilson’s penchant for cocktails and beauty-contest winners was well known, but in the early 1980s, the dilettante congressman quietly conducted one of the most successful covert operations in US history. Using his seat on the House Appropriations Committee, Wilson channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to support a ragged band of Afghan “freedom fighters” in their resistance against Soviet invaders.   Weapons were secretly procured and distributed with the help of an outcast CIA operative named Gust Avrakotos, who stretched the agency’s rules to the breaking point. Moving from the back rooms of Washington to secret chambers at Langley, and from arms-dealers’ conventions to the Khyber Pass, Wilson and Avrakotos helped the mujahideen win an unlikely victory against the Russians.   Adapted into a film starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War chronicles an overlooked chapter in the collapse of the Soviet Union—and the emergence of a brand-new foe in the form of radical Islam.   “Put the Tom Clancy clones back on the shelf; this covert-ops chronicle is practically impossible to put down. No thriller writer would dare invent Wilson.” —Publishers Weekly   “An engaging, well-written, newsworthy study of practical politics and its sometimes unlikely players, and one with plenty of implications.” —Kirkus Reviews Read more

Discover the remarkable history of the Soviet-Afghan War...Free BONUS Inside!In 1979, alarmed Soviet leaders watched the growing civil war in Afghanistan with trepidation. Russia’s neighbor had been a close ally for many years, acting as a buffer between Russia and British India and proving vital in the “Great Game” between the two empires. Various coups had, by this point, led to a Moscow-friendly government in Kabul, but still, things were not playing out as the Soviets had hoped.In a country built on mysticism and religion and almost devoid of industry, socialism was proving extremely unpopular. Afghanistan’s new leaders had tried to transform the country too quickly, infuriating the rural communities. With this opposition came the formation of revolutionary groups and—before long—civil war. When Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin requested help from the Soviet Union to gain control of the situation, the Soviets not only sent troops to Afghanistan but also assassinated Amin, whom they viewed as incompetent.By intervening in Afghanistan’s civil war, the Soviet Union hoped to establish a stable—and communist-friendly—government there. Meanwhile, the United States stepped in to support the rebels, the mujahideen, in the hopes of dragging the Soviet Union into a war of attrition that would lead to the destruction of communism and the end of the Cold War. This is the story of the Soviet-Afghan War.Discover a plethora of topics such asBackground: The Great GameThe Saur RevolutionSoviet Intervention: The Brezhnev Doctrine1979: Soviet Invasion1980-1985: Guerrilla Warfare1986-1989: Soviet WithdrawalAnd much more!So if you want a concise and informative book on the Soviet-Afghan War, simply scroll up and click the "Buy now" button for instant access! Read more

A commemoration of the 20th anniversary of 9/11 as told through stories and photographs from The Associated Press—covering everything from the events of that tragic day to the rebuilding of the World Trade Center and beyond.This important and comprehensive book commemorates the 20th anniversary of September 11 as told through stories and images from the correspondents and photographers of The Associated Press—breaking news reports, in-depth investigative pieces, human interest accounts, approximately 175 dramatic and moving photos, and first-person recollections. AP’s reporting of the world-changing events of 9/11; the heroic rescue efforts and aftermath; the world’s reaction; Operation Enduring Freedom; the continuing legal proceedings; the building of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City as a place of remembrance; the rebuilding of downtown NYC and much more is covered. Also included is a foreword by Robert De Niro. The book tells the many stories of 9/11—not only of the unprecedented horror of that September morning, but also of the inspiring resilience and hope of the human spirit. Read more

The Great Game refers to the hundred year geostrategic contest between Britain and Russia for control of Eurasia in the 19th century. The arena for the Great Game was all the lands, kingdoms and nations between the two Empires. At the beginning of the Great Game the territories of British India and Tsarist Russia were separated by a distance of almost 1,500 miles. At the end, all that remained between the two was Afghanistan - which at its narrowest, was a sliver of a 15 mile corridor, agreed upon mutually by the two behemoths to keep them apart. Afghanistan emerged as a modern nation, with its current territorial form, during the era of the Great Game. As a frontier state, Afghanistan was the stage on which the most powerful actors in this greatest geopolitical drama in the history of the world played their roles and left lasting legacies which resonate even in our age. The nationalist historiography of Afghanistan traces the origins of modern Afghanistan to 1747, the year in which Ahmad Shah Abdali established the Durrani Empire with its capital at Kabul. The British Colonial State was emerged as a power in South Asia not much later, when the East India Company acquired territorial rights in Bengal, after the Battle of Plassey, in 1757. The first official, diplomatic contact between the two was established in 1809. In the interceding half century or so, the Durrani Empire had expanded up to the borders of Delhi and subsequently shrunk to a much smaller core around the twin capitals of Kabul and Peshawar, after which the British Colonial State itself expanded to incorporate not just Delhi, but also territories beyond. By the middle of the 19th century, the British Colonial State had expanded its borders further north, across the Punjab, defeating and annexing the Sikh Empire. From 1849 onwards, Afghanistan and the British in India were geopolitical neighbours and rivals. The book traces the interactions between Afghanistan and the emerging British power in India, from the first contacts to the construction of the final territorial form of the region which come to be known as British India’s northwest frontier. * Excerpt: In 1808, the Governor General of the East India Company despatched three embassies from India to secure a system of alliances with one single purpose: to prevent the march of an overseas army from Europe through the southern quadrant of Middle Asia into India. At the turn of the 19th century, the spectre of Europe cast a shadow of unease over Asia. After the collapse of the French Revolution, Europe had been gripped by war as French armies led Napoleon Bonaparte marched across European frontiers. While the wars in Europe are beyond the scope of this essay, their effect on Asian diplomacy and strategic thought about the defence of India is important. In 1798, France had invaded Egypt. Was there a possibility of an invasion of India? Napoleon Bonaparte had, after all, openly proclaimed his intention of forging a pan-Asian Empire. (“I was full of dreams… I saw myself founding a new religion, marching into Asia riding on an elephant, a turban on my head and in my hands the new Koran I would have written to suit my needs.” - Napoleon.) Ultimately, the French fleet in the Mediterranean was destroyed by a British naval fleet even as the threats of continental war in Europe continued to rage. If there ever was to be a French invasion of India from Egypt, the plausible route would have been through the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. Or, overland, through Persia, possibly across Afghanistan, and further through Punjab or Sind. The three embassies were tasked with building an alliance system to prevent this, and secure India’s frontiers for the British Colonial State of the East India Company. (Excerpt from Chapter 2) * ABOUT THE AUTHOR G.S. Goraya is Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Geopolitics at the Department of Political Science, Panjab University, India. Read more

'Let us turn our faces towards Asia', exhorted Lenin when the long-awaited revolution in Europe failed to materialize. 'The East will help us conquer the West.' Peter Hopkirk's book tells for the first time the story of the Bolshevik attempt to set the East ablaze with the heady new gospel of Marxism. Lenin's dream was to liberate the whole of Asia, but his starting point was British India. A shadowy undeclared war followed. Among the players in this new Great Game were British spies, Communist revolutionaries, Muslim visionaries and Chinese warlords - as well as a White Russian baron who roasted his Bolshevik captives alive. Here is an extraordinary tale of intrigue and treachery, barbarism and civil war, whose violent repercussions continue to be felt in Central Asia today. Read more

In this stunning read, veteran foreign correspondent Eric Margolis presents a revelatory history of the complicated and volatile conflicts that entangle one of the most beautiful and remote parts of the world. Read more

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A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Following the U.S-Taliban peace deal of February 2020 - and the U.S's promised withdrawal from Afghanistan - the Taliban began terrorizing Afghan security forces, civilians and the government in Kabul. By August 2021, the group had seized control of the entire country.Taliban is a New York Times bestseller by the award-winning journalist Ahmed Rashid. Now considered a modern classic, the book provides rare insight into the history of the Taliban, their political movement, their leaders and their aims. This authoritative account is renowned for being able to explain one of the world's most extreme organizations from their inception in northern Pakistan in the early 1990s to their rise to power. In doing so, Rashid closely details their impact on Afghanistan, the Middle East and Central Asia, and how and why the Taliban spread, including their relationship with both Al-Qaeda and the U.S. The book has sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 40 languages. This third edition marks twenty years since the U.S. invaded Afghanistan and the author adds a new introduction to reflect on how the group regained their strength, the humanitarian crisis, and what Taliban rule is likely to mean for the region and the world. Read more

A journalist with deep knowledge of the region provides “an enthralling and largely firsthand account of the war in Afghanistan” (Financial Times).   Few reporters know as much about Afghanistan as Carlotta Gall. She was there in the 1990s after the Russians were driven out. She witnessed the early flourishing of radical Islam, imported from abroad, which caused so much local suffering. She was there right after 9/11, when US special forces helped the Northern Alliance drive the Taliban out of the north and then the south, fighting pitched battles and causing their enemies to flee underground and into Pakistan. Gall knows just how much this war has cost the Afghan people—and just how much damage can be traced to Pakistan and its duplicitous government and intelligence forces.   Combining searing personal accounts of battles and betrayals with moving portraits of the ordinary Afghans who were caught up in the conflict for more than a decade, The Wrong Enemy is a sweeping account of a war brought by American leaders against an enemy they barely understood and could not truly engage.   Read more