The American War in Afghanistan

Dov S. Zakheim, Senior Advisor at CSIS and a Vice Chairman of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, PRISM Malkasian offers a nonpareil history of a war that initially was viewed as one of necessity but increasingly became one of choice. His book sets the standard for all future works that will examine the causes and nature of yet another unhappy American military adventure on the mainland of Asia.

G. M. Farr, CHOICE This substantial text is well written and supported by almost 100 pages of notes and references. Offering a rather complete overview of the US failure, this is a must read for anyone interested in the mistakes made in Afghanistan.

Georgi Asatryan and Jack Kalpakian, International Affairs The book allows Afghans to tell their own story, and their voices are present throughout. The author spent significant amounts of time in Afghanistan and communicated with all strata of society, and as a result this book is one of the very few that is truly authoritative on the subject ... it will become a valuable addition to the academic literature on Afghanistan by giving space to Afghans' voice and agency within its rigorous academic research structure.

Christina Lamb, Foreign Affairs ...compelling...

Carter Malkasian is Special Assistant for Strategy to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford at the Pearson Institute. He is a former coalitions forces governor of Helmand Province, Afghanistan and the author of War Comes to Garmser (Oxford) and Illusions of Victory (Oxford).

Chapter One: Thinking About America's War in Afghanistan Chapter Two: The Country and Peoples of Afghanistan Chapter Three: The First Taliban Regime Chapter Four: The United States Enters Afghanistan Chapter Five: The Karzai Regime Chapter Six: Disorder in Kandahar Chapter Seven: The Taliban Offensive Chapter Eight: A Second Taliban Regime, 2007-2010 Chapter Nine: The War in the East Chapter Ten: Kandahar City and Lashkar Gah Chapter Eleven: The New Administration and the Surge Chapter Twelve: The Surge in Helmand Chapter Thirteen: The Surge in Kandahar Chapter Fourteen: End of the Surge Chapter Fifteen: Ghazni and the East Chapter Sixteen: The new army and police, insider attacks, and the bilateral security agreement Chapter Seventeen: The 2014 Elections Chapter Eighteen: The Taliban Offensives of 2015 and 2016 Chapter Nineteen: The Trump Administration Chapter Twenty: Peace Talks Chapter Twenty-One: Looking Back on Eighteen Years of War in Afghanistan References Notes Index