by Scott Mann
First published 2022
In April, ABC News correspondent James Gordon Meek receives an urgent call about Nezam Nezami, an Afghan commando who trained at Fort Bragg and served with US Special Forces for over a decade. The Taliban are sending Nezam death threats as Afghanistan's government collapses. Meek contacts retired Lt. Col. Scott Mann, who assembles Task Force Pineapple from his basement. The team includes Navy SEALs, Green Berets, CIA officers, and USAID advisors. They create an escape route for Nezam, hiding him in Taliban-controlled Kabul. After tense days dodging enemy checkpoints and airport crowds, Nezam reaches the American-held terminal. But more calls flood in from desperate Afghan interpreters, soldiers, and at-risk families. Task Force Pineapple starts over, racing against time in the final chaotic days before the ISIS-K bombing. They save 500 more Afghans. This is a story of veterans who refuse to abandon the people who fought beside them.
Genres: military-fiction, adventure, action, non-fiction
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, race-against-time
Setting: Afghanistan, Kabul, Fort Bragg
Period: 2021
392 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: violence, war