The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War
- ISBN-10
- 1982159022
- ISBN-13
- 9781982159023
- Series
- The Afghanistan Papers
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 368
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2021-08-31
- Publisher
- Simon and Schuster
- Authors
- The Washington Post, Craig Whitlock
Description
The groundbreaking 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: to 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 became 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 startling 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 make time to meet with him. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted 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 shocking account that will supercharge a long overdue reckoning over what went wrong and forever change the way the conflict is remembered.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2022-08-30
- 384 pages
- Paperback
- Simon and Schuster
-
- 2021-08-31
- 368 pages
- Paperback
- Simon and Schuster
Similar books
-
The American War in Afghanistan: A History
By Carter MalkasianIt is currently winding down, and American troops are likely to leave soon but only after a stay of nearly two decades. In The American War in Afghanistan, Carter Malkasian provides the first comprehensive history of the entire conflict.
-
The Afghanistan Papers: A Selection of Leaked US Military Field Reports from the Afghan War
By Lenny FlankThe Afghanistan War from the inside. Over 800 classified reports by the troops in the field, presenting the reality of how the war is being fought on the ground. Assassinations, demonstrations, ambushes, IEDs.
-
SUMMARY of the Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War by Craig Whitlock
By Christopher BurtTHE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS - SUMMARY DISCLAIMER THIS IS NOT WRITTEN BY CRAIG WHITLOCK IT IS AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION BY CHRISTOPHER BURT THAT SUMMARISES CRAIG WHITLOCK BOOK IN DETAIL.
-
Summary of Craig Whitlock & The Washington Post's The Afghanistan Papers
By , Everest MediaPlease note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
-
Afghanistan: A New History
By Martin EwansReviews the emergence and fall of the Taliban, their ideology and their place within Islam, and examines Afghanistan's relevance to issues relating to Islamic extremism, the international drugs trade and international terrorism.
-
Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History
By Thomas Barfield... Mazar-i-sharif Taloqan Maimana NORTH AFGHANISTAN Baghlan Pul-i-khumri HAN B ADAKHS Murghab R. ha bR. alk B Doshi ... Gah Qandahar IRAN Zaranj PAKISTAN Tarn a k R SOUTH AFGHANISTAN Spin Boldak Quetta Helm and R. Bolan Pass Map 4.
-
Afghanistan: The Afghan Papers, Troop Levels and Lessons Learned
By Michael J. WilsonThe United States has been in Afghanistan for almost 19 years. It is the longest war in the history of the United States.
-
Games without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan
By Tamim AnsaryBy the author of Destiny Disrupted: an enlightening, accessible history of modern Afghanistan from the Afghan point of view, showing how Great Power conflicts have interrupted its ongoing, internal struggle to take form as a nation
-
Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan
By Rajiv ChandrasekaranThe author of Imperial Life in the Emerald City (winner of the 2007 Samuel Johnson Prize) now gives us the startling, behind-the-scenes story of the struggle between President Obama and the US military to remake Afghanistan.
-
The Afghanistan Papers Part 1: Interviews with Top Officials in the Afghanistan War
By Michael BanksThe Post won release of the documents under the Freedom of Information Act after a three-year legal battle.More storiesTHE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS Part 1: At war with the truthPART 1At war with the truthU.S. officials constantly said they were ...