The Afghanistan Papers

The Afghanistan Papers
Author: Craig Whitlock
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2022-08-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1982159014

A Washington Post Best Book of 2021 ​The #1 New York Times bestselling investigative story of how three successive presidents and their military commanders deceived the public year after year about America’s longest war, foreshadowing the Taliban’s recapture of Afghanistan, by Washington Post reporter and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Craig Whitlock. Unlike the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 had near-unanimous public support. At first, the goals were straightforward and clear: defeat al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. Yet soon after the United States and its allies removed the Taliban from power, the mission veered off course and US officials lost sight of their original objectives. Distracted by the war in Iraq, the US military become mired in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country it did not understand. But no president wanted to admit failure, especially in a war that began as a just cause. Instead, the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations sent more and more troops to Afghanistan and repeatedly said they were making progress, even though they knew there was no realistic prospect for an outright victory. Just as the Pentagon Papers changed the public’s understanding of Vietnam, The Afghanistan Papers contains “fast-paced and vivid” (The New York Times Book Review) revelation after revelation from people who played a direct role in the war from leaders in the White House and the Pentagon to soldiers and aid workers on the front lines. In unvarnished language, they admit that the US government’s strategies were a mess, that the nation-building project was a colossal failure, and that drugs and corruption gained a stranglehold over their allies in the Afghan government. All told, the account is based on interviews with more than 1,000 people who knew that the US government was presenting a distorted, and sometimes entirely fabricated, version of the facts on the ground. Documents unearthed by The Washington Post reveal that President Bush didn’t know the name of his Afghanistan war commander—and didn’t want to meet with him. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted that he had “no visibility into who the bad guys are.” His successor, Robert Gates, said: “We didn’t know jack shit about al-Qaeda.” The Afghanistan Papers is a “searing indictment of the deceit, blunders, and hubris of senior military and civilian officials” (Tom Bowman, NRP Pentagon Correspondent) that will supercharge a long-overdue reckoning over what went wrong and forever change the way the conflict is remembered.

The Triple Agent

The Triple Agent
Author: Joby Warrick
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2011-07-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0385534191

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter, a stunning narrative account of the mysterious Jordanian who penetrated both the inner circle of al-Qaeda and the highest reaches of the CIA, with a devastating impact on the war on terror. "Warwick is a brilliant reporter...A gripping true-life spy saga."—Los Angeles Times In December 2009, a group of the CIA’s top terrorist hunters gathered at a secret base in Khost, Afghanistan, to greet a rising superspy: Humam Khalil al-Balawi, a Jordanian double-agent who infiltrated the upper ranks of al-Qaeda. For months, he had sent shocking revelations from inside the terrorist network and now promised to help the CIA assassinate Osama bin Laden’s top deputy. Instead, as he stepped from his car, he detonated a thirty-pound bomb strapped to his chest, instantly killing seven CIA operatives, the agency’s worst loss of life in decades. In The Triple Agent, Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Joby Warrick takes us deep inside the CIA’s secret war against al-Qaeda, a war that pits robotic planes and laser-guided missiles against a cunning enemy intent on unleashing carnage in American cities. Flitting precariously between the two sides was Balawi, a young man with extraordinary gifts who managed to win the confidence of hardened terrorists as well as veteran spymasters. With his breathtaking accounts from inside al-Qaeda’s lair, Balawi appeared poised to become America’s greatest double-agent in half a century—but he was not at all what he seemed. Combining the powerful momentum of Black Hawk Down with the institutional insight of Jane Mayer’s The Dark Side, Warrick takes the readers on a harrowing journey from the slums of Amman to the inner chambers of the White House in an untold true story of miscalculation, deception, and revenge.

The Kabul Incident

The Kabul Incident
Author: Mat Nastos
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Total Pages: 61
Release: 2018-02-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

The action-packed prequel to the #1 Best Selling Sci-Fi Novel, THE CESTUS CONCERN. Assigned to monitor and maintain the Project Hardwired cyborg warrior, Designate Cestus, Engineer First Class Scott Brazier finds himself deep behind enemy lines when everything goes wrong. Caught between terrorists bent on killing him at any cost and a cybernetic super soldier gone rogue, Brazier is forced to face his foes alone. All that stands between the world and unleashed chemical warfare is a small computer technician out on his first mission. Fans of films like "Bourne Identity" or "Smoking Aces," or the comics of Deadpool and Wolverine, will love the over-the-top science fiction action of "THE KABUL INCIDENT" and the entire WEIR CODEX series by Mat Nastos.

I Was Told to Come Alone

I Was Told to Come Alone
Author: Souad Mekhennet
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2017-06-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 162779896X

“I was told to come alone. I was not to carry any identification, and would have to leave my cell phone, audio recorder, watch, and purse at my hotel. . . .” For her whole life, Souad Mekhennet, a reporter for The Washington Post who was born and educated in Germany, has had to balance the two sides of her upbringing – Muslim and Western. She has also sought to provide a mediating voice between these cultures, which too often misunderstand each other. In this compelling and evocative memoir, we accompany Mekhennet as she journeys behind the lines of jihad, starting in the German neighborhoods where the 9/11 plotters were radicalized and the Iraqi neighborhoods where Sunnis and Shia turned against one another, and culminating on the Turkish/Syrian border region where ISIS is a daily presence. In her travels across the Middle East and North Africa, she documents her chilling run-ins with various intelligence services and shows why the Arab Spring never lived up to its promise. She then returns to Europe, first in London, where she uncovers the identity of the notorious ISIS executioner “Jihadi John,” and then in France, Belgium, and her native Germany, where terror has come to the heart of Western civilization. Mekhennet’s background has given her unique access to some of the world’s most wanted men, who generally refuse to speak to Western journalists. She is not afraid to face personal danger to reach out to individuals in the inner circles of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, ISIS, and their affiliates; when she is told to come alone to an interview, she never knows what awaits at her destination. Souad Mekhennet is an ideal guide to introduce us to the human beings behind the ominous headlines, as she shares her transformative journey with us. Hers is a story you will not soon forget.

The Human Cost

The Human Cost
Author: Human Rights Watch (Organization)
Publisher: Human Rights Watch
Total Pages: 127
Release: 2007
Genre: Afghan War, 2001-
ISBN:

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Encyclopaedia Britannica
Author: Hugh Chisholm
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1090
Release: 1910
Genre: Encyclopedias and dictionaries
ISBN:

This eleventh edition was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the time and it is considered to be a landmark encyclopaedia for scholarship and literary style.

Ghost Wars

Ghost Wars
Author: Steve Coll
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 736
Release: 2005-03-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 0141935790

The news-breaking book that has sent schockwaves through the White House, Ghost Wars is the most accurate and revealing account yet of the CIA's secret involvement in al-Qaeada's evolution. Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll has spent years reporting from the Middle East, accessed previously classified government files and interviewed senior US officials and foreign spymasters. Here he gives the full inside story of the CIA's covert funding of an Islamic jihad against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, explores how this sowed the seeds of bn Laden's rise, traces how he built his global network and brings to life the dramatic battles within the US government over national security. Above all, he lays bare American intelligence's continual failure to grasp the rising threat of terrrorism in the years leading to 9/11 - and its devastating consequences.

Kabul 24

Kabul 24
Author: Ben Pearson
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2009-09-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1418580171

You can't kidnap someone's hope. They were teachers, engineers, nurses, students, and artists from around the world who answered God's call to help Afghan refugees rebuild their lives following decades of war. But as international tensions reached inferno levels in 2001, extremists set out to rid Afghanistan of anyone who posed a threat to Islam and the influence of the Taliban. The Shelter Now International (SNI) humanitarian effort led by Christians from Western countries topped the Taliban's list. Kabul 24 is the story you didn't see on CNN. It's the story of the human heartbeats behind the headlines that captivated the world during one of the most volatile political windows in rencent history. Relive the harrowing, true account of how eight humanitarian aid workers imprisoned behind enemy lines would survive and even thrive in the midst of betrayal, inhumane conditions, and the massive Allied bombing raids?conducted by their own countries?following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. From peacemakers to pawns in a story of political and religious turmoil, the eight would individually and collectively discover a level of hope that would free them from captivity long before their dramatic rescue by American Special Forces 105 days after their abduction.

The Final Mission of Extortion 17

The Final Mission of Extortion 17
Author: Ed Darack
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2017-09-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1588345904

On August 6, 2011, a U.S. Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter approached a landing zone in Afghanistan 40 miles southwest of Kabul. The helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, was on a mission to reinforce American and coalition special operations troops. It would never return. Insurgents fired at the Chinook, severed one of its rear rotor blades, and brought it crashing to the ground. All 38 onboard perished instantly in the single greatest moment of sacrifice for Americans in the war in Afghanistan. Those killed were some of the U.S.'s most highly trained and battle-honed commandos, including 15 men from the Gold Squadron of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, known popularly as SEAL Team 6, which had raided a Pakistan compound and killed Osama bin Laden just three months earlier. The downing of Extortion 17 spurred a number of conspiracy theories, such as the idea that the shootdown was revenge for bin Laden's death. In The Final Mission of Extortion 17, Ed Darack debunks this theory and others and uncovers the truth behind this mysterious tragedy. His account of the brave pilots, crew, and passengers of Extortion 17 and the events of that fateful day is interwoven into a rich, complex narrative that also discusses modern joint combat operations, the history of the Afghan war to that date, U.S. helicopter use in Afghanistan, and the new and evolving military technologies and tactics being developed to mitigate such tragedies now and in the future. Amazon Best History Book of the Month - September 2017

Afghanistan and the Future of Warfare: Implications for Army and Defense Policy

Afghanistan and the Future of Warfare: Implications for Army and Defense Policy
Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2002
Genre:
ISBN: 1428910808

The defense debate tends to treat Afghanistan as either a revolution or a fluke: either the "Afghan Model" of special operations forces (SOF) plus precision munitions plus an indigenous ally is a widely applicable template for American defense planning, or it is a nonreplicable product of local idiosyncrasies. In fact, it is neither. The Afghan campaign of last fall and winter was actually much closer to a typical 20th century mid-intensity conflict, albeit one with unusually heavy fire support for one side. And this view has very different implications than either proponents or skeptics of the Afghan Model now claim. Afghan Model skeptics often point to Afghanistan's unusual culture of defection or the Taliban's poor skill or motivation as grounds for doubting the war's relevance to the future. Afghanistan's culture is certainly unusual, and there were many defections. The great bulk, however, occurred after the military tide had turned not before-hand. They were effects, not causes. The Afghan Taliban were surely unskilled and ill-motivated. The non-Afghan al Qaeda, however, have proven resolute and capable fighters. Their host's collapse was not attributable to any al Qaeda shortage of commitment or training. Afghan Model proponents, by contrast, credit precision weapons with annihilating enemies at a distance before they could close with our commandos or indigenous allies. Hence the model's broad utility: with SOF-directed bombs doing the real killing, even ragtag local militias will suffice as allies. All they need do is screen U.S. commandos from the occasional hostile survivor and occupy the abandoned ground thereafter. Yet the actual fighting in Afghanistan involved substantial close combat. Al Qaeda counterattackers closed, unseen, to pointblank range of friendly forces in battles at Highway 4 and Sayed Slim Kalay.