by Anand Gopal
First published 2015
Gopal tracks three Afghan lives across the tumultuous years of American intervention. A Taliban commander faces the collapse of his movement and the choice between resistance and surrender. A warlord backed by U.S. forces exploits the chaos to settle old scores and expand his power. Between them, a housewife struggles to protect her family as violence engulfs her community. Their stories unfold in small villages where the line between ally and enemy shifts constantly. American forces make critical errors that prolong the conflict and deepen Afghan suffering. Taliban leaders and U.S.-supported officials commit crimes that devastate ordinary people. The book reveals how misguided policies transformed a swift military victory into decades of warfare. Through intimate portraits of these three lives, Gopal exposes the human cost of strategic failures and shows why America's intervention went catastrophically wrong.
Genres: historical-fiction, political-science, non-fiction, 21st-century, military-history, american-history
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: intimate-portraits, misguided-policies, strategic-failures
Setting: Afghanistan, Small Villages, United States
Period: American Intervention, Tumultuous Years
317 pages · Paperback · Picador Paper
Content warnings: violence, war