{"title":"Afghan War (2001-2021)","description":"\u003cp\u003eAfghan War (2001-2021) books focus on the political, military, and social dynamics that shaped nearly two decades of conflict in Afghanistan. This topic specifically covers the war following the U.S.-led invasion of 2001, analyzing military operations, diplomatic initiatives, and the impact on Afghan society throughout years of occupation and transition. Readers will find resources here that concentrate on the complex events, consequences, and shifting global perspectives unique to this twenty-first century conflict, differentiating this category from broader studies of warfare.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo explore this subject further, consider examining accounts that address specific operations, key turning points in the conflict, or the perspectives of participants and affected populations. You may also narrow your research to compare how the Afghan War (2001-2021) is treated within Wars \u0026amp; Conflicts history as opposed to older or more localized conflicts, gaining insight into modern approaches to warfare and post-conflict recovery.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"last-free-women-daring-escape-afghanistan-coming-age-america-9781538779002-new","title":"The Last Free Women: A Daring Escape from Afghanistan and Coming of Age in America","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe extraordinary account of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe New York Times's\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e effort to save hundreds of lives during the 2021 Afghanistan evacuation, highlighting four exceptional young women who, having escaped the fate of their fellow countrywomen back home, now face the challenges of forging a new life in a new land, a new language, and a new culture.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKabul; August 15, 2021. It was supposed to be Marwa's first day back at medical school. After more than a year of the pandemic's isolation, here, at last, was a cause for celebration. She set out her books and ironed the dress specially chosen for the occasion. But when she awoke that morning, giddy anticipation quickly gave way to panic and fear. The streets were thronged with desperate crowds, everyone pressing in the same direction. The Taliban were coming. They had only hours to get out. On the radio, an announcer intoned the names of the provinces that had already fallen. Marwa had gone to bed the night before with a vision of a whole future ahead of her. Now she had only minutes to pack, wondering how she could condense everything she'd ever known into a single backpack. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEfforts to evacuate the group were taking place as Rebecca Blumenstein was driving her son cross-country to college. As a top editor of \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, she had been deeply involved in managing the foreign correspondents the paper sent to war zones. Now, as the lives of their Afghan Bureau employees and their families were imperiled by the Taliban's swift resurgence, she played a pivotal role in coordinating their evacuation, in the end securing the relocation from Afghanistan of more than 200 people, 124 to the US--the largest privately sponsored group of refugees in modern American history. She then led their resettlement into their new life in the U.S. \u003cbr\u003e Though each is navigating different circumstances and dreams, these four brave, remarkable women--Marwa, Mursal, Maryam, Samira-- are united in their desire to make the most of the opportunity they have been given. Stories of hope and resilience, setback and struggle, ambition and joy, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Free Women\u003c\/i\u003e grapples with what America owes those who seek freedom on our shores, and how they, like generations of immigrants before them, will remake what it is to be American.","brand":"GRAND CENTRAL PUBL","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":52597241315618,"sku":"9781538779002-new","price":23.9,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0893\/4755\/5618\/files\/9781538779002.jpg?v=1789952290"},{"product_id":"great-gamble-soviet-war-afghanistan-9780061143199-new","title":"The Great Gamble: The Soviet War in Afghanistan","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Fascinating....A highly readable history of the conflict.\" --\u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Great Gamble\u003c\/em\u003e, a 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 21st century, as well. Told from the perspective of the Russians who fought it, \u003cem\u003eThe Great Gamble\u003c\/em\u003e offers valuable insight into the history of Afghanistan's troubled government and the rise of the Mujahideen and Al-Qaeda. In the words of the \u003cem\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/em\u003e, \"Feifer has done truly extraordinary research... For all its heft, [\u003cem\u003eThe Great Gamble\u003c\/em\u003e] is an effortless read--an unusual and gratifying combination.\" \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PERENNIAL","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":67600346546466,"sku":"9780061143199-new","price":18.53,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0893\/4755\/5618\/files\/9780061143199.jpg?v=1792906021"},{"product_id":"war-9780446556224-new","title":"War","description":"\u003cb\u003eA harrowing exploration of the uniquely dangerous experience of men whose survival depends on their absolute commitment to one another--from the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Perfect Storm\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Incisive ... absorbing ... original.\" --\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Sebastian Junger turns his brilliant and empathetic eye to the reality of combat--the fear, the honor, and the trust among men in an extreme situation. His on-the-ground account follows a single platoon through a 15-month tour of duty in the most dangerous outpost in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Through the experiences of these young men at war, he shows what it means to fight, to serve, and to face down mortal danger on a daily basis.","brand":"TWELVE","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":67600346579234,"sku":"9780446556224-new","price":17.71,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0893\/4755\/5618\/files\/9780446556224.jpg?v=1792906026"},{"product_id":"why-we-lost-generals-inside-account-iraq-afghanistan-wars-9780544570412-new","title":"Why We Lost: A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA high-ranking general's gripping, \"compelling\" \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003einsider account of the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and how it all went wrong (\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal).\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Over his thirty-five year career, Daniel Bolger rose through the ranks of the army infantry to become a three-star general, commanding in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Perhaps more than anyone else, he was witness to the full extent of the wars, from 9\/11 to withdrawal from the region. Not only did Bolger participate in top-level planning and strategy meetings, but he also regularly carried a rifle alongside soldiers in combat actions. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Writing with hard-won experience and unflinching honesty, he argues that while we lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, we did not have to. Intelligence was garbled. Key decision makers were blinded by spreadsheets or theories. And we never really understood our enemy. \u003ci\u003eWhy We Lost\u003c\/i\u003e is a timely, forceful, and compulsively readable account of these wars from a fresh and authoritative perspective. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"\u003ci\u003eWhy We Lost\u003c\/i\u003e is neither a memoir nor a window into private meetings and secret discussions. It is . . . filled with heartfelt stories of soldiers and Marines in firefights and close combat. It weighs in mightily to the ongoing debate over how the United States should wage war.\" -- \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MARINER BOOKS","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":67600346644770,"sku":"9780544570412-new","price":15.87,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0893\/4755\/5618\/files\/9780544570412.jpg?v=1792906030"},{"product_id":"lose-war-fall-rise-taliban-9780593493090-new","title":"To Lose a War: The Fall and Rise of the Taliban","description":"\u003cb\u003eNamed a Best Book of the Year by \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A book that is as deeply humane and profoundly rendered as any I've read about Afghanistan, or any other war.\" --Elliot Ackerman, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom one of the great foreign correspondents of our time, author of some of the most essential reporting from Afghanistan from before 9\/11 to the return of the Taliban to power in 2021, the first full accounting of that entire era, combining previously published dispatches and new reporting into a single epic tapestry\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJon Lee Anderson first reported from Afghanistan in the late 1980s, covering the US-backed mujahideen's insurrection against the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul. Within days of the 9\/11 attacks, he was again on the ground as an early eyewitness to the new war launched by the US against the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies. His reportage from the first year of the war won a number of awards and was published in book form as \u003ci\u003eThe Lion's Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan\u003c\/i\u003e. At the time, the American military had prevailed on the battlefield, and the newfound peace seemed to offer a precious space for Afghan society to restore itself and to forge a democratic future. But all was not well: Osama bin Laden was still in hiding, the Taliban were stealthily reorganizing for a comeback, and the United States was about to turn its attention to Iraq. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eTo Lose a War\u003c\/i\u003e collects Anderson's writing from Afghanistan over a near-quarter-century span. Containing the stories from \u003ci\u003eThe Lion's Grave\u003c\/i\u003e and all of those he published since, as well as important writing appearing here for the first time, the book offers a chronological account of a monumental tragedy as it unfolds. The colossal waste, missed signals, and wishful thinking that characterized the twenty-year arc of the US-led war in Afghanistan have consecrated it as one of the greatest foreign policy failures of the modern era, and a bellwether of a larger American imperial decline.","brand":"PENGUIN PR","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":67600346677538,"sku":"9780593493090-new","price":23.9,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0893\/4755\/5618\/files\/9780593493090.jpg?v=1792906035"},{"product_id":"lose-war-fall-rise-taliban-9780593493113-new","title":"To Lose a War: The Fall and Rise of the Taliban","description":"\u003cb\u003eNamed a Best Book of the Year by \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A book that is as deeply humane and profoundly rendered as any I've read about Afghanistan, or any other war.\" --Elliot Ackerman, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom one of the great foreign correspondents of our time, author of some of the most essential reporting from Afghanistan from before 9\/11 to the return of the Taliban to power in 2021, the first full accounting of that entire era, combining previously published dispatches and new reporting into a single epic tapestry\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJon Lee Anderson first reported from Afghanistan in the late 1980s, covering the US-backed mujahideen's insurrection against the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul. 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Containing the stories from \u003ci\u003eThe Lion's Grave\u003c\/i\u003e and all of those he published since, as well as important writing appearing here for the first time, the book offers a chronological account of a monumental tragedy as it unfolds. The colossal waste, missed signals, and wishful thinking that characterized the twenty-year arc of the US-led war in Afghanistan have consecrated it as one of the greatest foreign policy failures of the modern era, and a bellwether of a larger American imperial decline.","brand":"PENGUIN GROUP","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":67600346710306,"sku":"9780593493113-new","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0893\/4755\/5618\/files\/9780593493113.jpg?v=1792906040"},{"product_id":"red-platoon-true-story-american-valor-9781101984338-new","title":"Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eTHE \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe only comprehensive, firsthand account of the fourteen-hour firefight at the Battle of Keating in Afghanistan by Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha, for readers of \u003ci\u003eBlack Hawk Down \u003c\/i\u003eby Mark Bowden and \u003ci\u003eLone Survivor\u003c\/i\u003e by Marcus Luttrell.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"'It doesn't get better.' To us, that phrase nailed one of the essential truths, maybe even the essential truth, about being stuck at an outpost whose strategic and tactical vulnerabilities were so glaringly obvious to every soldier who had ever set foot in that place that the name itself--Keating--had become a kind of backhanded joke.\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 2009, Clinton Romesha of Red Platoon and the rest of the Black Knight Troop were preparing to shut down Command Outpost (COP) Keating, the most remote and inaccessible in a string of bases built by the US military in Nuristan and Kunar in the hope of preventing Taliban insurgents from moving freely back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three years after its construction, the army was finally ready to concede what the men on the ground had known immediately: it was simply too isolated and too dangerous to defend. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e On October 3, 2009, after years of constant smaller attacks, the Taliban finally decided to throw everything they had at Keating. The ensuing fourteen-hour battle--and eventual victory--cost eight men their lives. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eRed Platoon\u003c\/i\u003e is the riveting firsthand account of the Battle of Keating, told by Romesha, who spearheaded both the defense of the outpost and the counterattack that drove the Taliban back beyond the wire and received the Medal of Honor for his actions.","brand":"DUTTON BOOKS","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":67600348086562,"sku":"9781101984338-new","price":18.34,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0893\/4755\/5618\/files\/9781101984338.jpg?v=1792906045"},{"product_id":"no-good-men-among-living-america-taliban-war-through-afghan-eyes-9781250069269-new","title":"No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePULITZER PRIZE FINALIST\u003cbr\u003eNATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE RIDENHOUR PRIZE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Essential reading for anyone concerned about how America got Afghanistan so wrong. A devastating, well-honed prosecution detailing how our government bungled the initial salvo in the so-called war on terror, ignored attempts by top Taliban leaders to surrender, trusted the wrong people, and backed a feckless and corrupt Afghan regime . . . It is ultimately the most compelling account I've read of how Afghans themselves see the war.\" \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis gripping account stunningly lays bare the workings of America's longest war and the truth behind its prolonged agony.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a breathtaking chronicle, acclaimed journalist Anand Gopal traces the lives of three Afghans caught in America's war on terror. He follows a Taliban commander, who rises from scrawny teenager to leading insurgent; a U.S.-backed warlord, who uses the American military to gain wealth and power; and a village housewife trapped between the two sides, who discovers the devastating cost of neutrality. Through their dramatic stories emerges a stunning tale of how the United States had triumph in sight in Afghanistan--and then brought the Taliban back from the dead.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PICADOR USA","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":67600348152098,"sku":"9781250069269-new","price":17.72,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0893\/4755\/5618\/files\/9781250069269.jpg?v=1792906050"},{"product_id":"call-sign-extortion-17-shoot-down-seal-team-six-9781493007462-new","title":"Call Sign Extortion 17: The Shoot-Down of SEAL Team Six","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe basis of the provocative hit military documentary Fallen Angel Call Sign: Extortion 17. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Black Hawk Down of the war in Afghanistan, the deadliest day for the U.S. in 12 years of that conflict--and a military investigation that covered up evidence of an inside job by the Taliban. Don Brown, a former U.S. Navy JAG officer stationed at the Pentagon, and former Special Assistant United States Attorney, has in his possession one of four copies of The Colt Report, which reveals a possible cover-up in relation to the August 6, 2011, killing of 30 men from the United States, including 17 members of Navy Seal Team Six--warrior brothers from the same Team that ninety days before killed Osama Bin Laden--potentially by undercover Taliban operatives.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LYONS PR","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":67600348184866,"sku":"9781493007462-new","price":21.81,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0893\/4755\/5618\/files\/9781493007462.jpg?v=1792906053"},{"product_id":"call-sign-extortion-17-shoot-down-seal-team-six-9781493009497-new","title":"Call Sign Extortion 17: The Shoot-Down of SEAL Team Six","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe basis of the provocative hit military documentary Fallen Angel Call Sign: Extortion 17. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Black Hawk Down of the war in Afghanistan, the deadliest day for the U.S. in 12 years of that conflict--and a military investigation that covered up evidence of an inside job by the Taliban. 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It was supposed to be Marwa's first day back at medical school. After more than a year of the pandemic's isolation, here, at last, was a cause for celebration. She set out her books and ironed the dress specially chosen for the occasion. But when she awoke that morning, giddy anticipation quickly gave way to panic and fear. The streets were thronged with desperate crowds, everyone pressing in the same direction. The Taliban were coming. They had only hours to get out. On the radio, an announcer intoned the names of the provinces that had already fallen. Marwa had gone to bed the night before with a vision of a whole future ahead of her. Now she had only minutes to pack, wondering how she could condense everything she'd ever known into a single backpack. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEfforts to evacuate the group were taking place as Rebecca Blumenstein was driving her son cross-country to college. As a top editor of \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, she had been deeply involved in managing the foreign correspondents the paper sent to war zones. Now, as the lives of their Afghan Bureau employees and their families were imperiled by the Taliban's swift resurgence, she played a pivotal role in coordinating their evacuation, in the end securing the relocation from Afghanistan of more than 200 people, 124 to the US--the largest privately sponsored group of refugees in modern American history. She then led their resettlement into their new life in the U.S. \u003cbr\u003e Though each is navigating different circumstances and dreams, these four brave, remarkable women--Marwa, Mursal, Maryam, Samira-- are united in their desire to make the most of the opportunity they have been given. 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