Authors: Seth G. Jones, William Hughes
ISBN-13: 9781441769756, ISBN-10: 1441769757
Format: Compact Disc
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Date Published: September 2010
Edition: Unabridged
Seth G. Jones serves as an adviser and plans officer for the Commanding General, U.S. Special Operations Forces, in Afghanistan. He lives outside of Washington, DC, and contributes regularly to the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. Jones was named one of 2008’s ‘Best and Brightest’ young policy experts by Esquire.
This definitive account of the American experience in Afghanistan is a political history of Afghanistan in the "Age of Terror" from 2001 to 2009, exploring the fundamental tragedy of America's longest war since Vietnam. After the swift defeat of the Taliban in 2001, American optimism has steadily evaporated in the face of mounting violence; a new "war of a thousand cuts" has brought the country to its knees.
After a brief survey of the great empires in Afghanistan, Seth G. Jones examines the central question of our own war: how did an insurgency develop? Following September 11, the United States successfully overthrew the Taliban regime. It established security throughout the country, and Afghanistan finally began to emerge from more than two decades of conflict. But Jones argues that, as early as 2001, planning for the Iraq War siphoned off resources and talented personnel, undermining the gains that had been made. After eight years, the United States had pushed...
A few years ago, the Turkish defense minister bragged that the Turkish contingent in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had finished an entire tour in Afghanistan's Wardak province without firing a shot. To some, including his intended audience of Turks, this boast was cause for approval and appreciation. To others -- presumably the battle-weary American soldiers who complained bitterly that ISAF had come to stand for I Saw Americans Fight -- the boast demonstrated all that was wrong or bogus about the NATO effort in Afghanistan, and epitomized the woes that the Americans would eventually have to redouble their efforts to repair.
In the Graveyard of Empires, Seth Jones's history of post-invasion Afghanistan, is at its best when it describes the follies and occasional acts of heroism emanating from the patchwork of nations that now take collective responsibility for Afghanistan. The coalition he describes includes many dedicated soldiers and canny diplomats, but it errs frequently, and in the end its members amount to just a few fully committed nations: the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and the Netherlands. Most others commit soldiers only in nominal amounts, or halfheartedly -- under the condition, say, that they build roads and schools instead of killing Taliban, even if the Taliban are destroying the roads or murdering the teachers.
List of Maps and Graphs ix
Chronology xi
Introduction xix
1 Descent into Violence 3
2 The Mujahideen Era 23
3 Uncivil War 41
4 The Rise of the Taliban 52
5 Al Qa'ida's Strategic Alliance 69
6 Operation Enduring Freedom 86
7 Light Footprint 109
8 Early Successes 134
9 The Logic of Insurgency 151
10 Collapse of Law and Order 163
11 A Growing Cancer 183
12 The Perfect Storm 203
13 A Three-Front War 223
14 National Caveats 238
15 The Water Must Boil 256
16 Al Qa'ida: A Force Multiplier 279
17 In the Eye of the Storm 296
18 Back to the Future 313
Afterword 327
Acknowledgments 341
Notes 345
Index 417