First published 2022
In August 2021, Elliot Ackerman watches from afar as the Taliban closes in on Kabul and the Afghan government collapses. A former Marine and CIA officer who served multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, Ackerman left the military a decade earlier. But when Afghan interpreters and allies who worked with American forces face brutal Taliban reprisal, he cannot stay away. The official US evacuation becomes a bureaucratic disaster and humanitarian crisis. Ackerman joins an improvised network of journalists and veterans to arrange emergency flights and negotiate with both Taliban and American forces at Kabul airport. Working alongside former military colleagues now protecting the airfield, they manage to evacuate hundreds of desperate Afghan families. Ackerman structures his account as a five act drama, weaving the chaotic final week with his personal history across twenty years of war, from the initial post-9/11 invasion through the bitter end. He grapples with the sacrifices of American and Afghan fighters who served with courage and dedication, while reckoning with what went wrong in America's longest conflict.
Genres: historical-fiction, american, military-fiction, action, biography-memoir, 21st-century, current-affairs, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-history, reckoning, sacrifice
Setting: Afghanistan, Kabul
Period: 2021
Paperback
Content warnings: death, violence, war