English Afghanistan

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: 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.

The American war in Afghanistan, which began in 2001, is now the longest armed conflict in the nation's history. It is currently winding down, and American troops are likely to leave soon - but only after a stay of nearly two decades.

The story of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan is well known: the expansionist Communists overwhelmed a poor country as a means of reaching a warm-water port on the Persian Gulf. It is a great story—but it never happened. In this brilliant, myth-busting account, Rodric Braithwaite, the former British ambassador to Moscow, challenges much of what we know about the Soviets in Afghanistan. He provides an inside look at this little-understood episode, using first-hand accounts and piercing analysis to show the war as it was fought and experienced by the Russians.

Briggs: Remember when we parted ways in Germany? It was the day I broke your heart. What you didn't know was that I was breaking mine too. I thought they'd be enough - my husband and my son. That I'd get home and everything would go back to the way it was...before the war. Before the ambush. Before you. But, no matter how hard I try, I can't erase the trauma we shared. I can't seem to forget the way my heart beat in time with yours. I thought the nightmare was over when they pulled us from that hole in the ground, but nothing could have prepared me for the war I'd face at home.

In January 2002, Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan, surviving by his wits, his knowledge of Persian dialects and Muslim customs, and the kindness of strangers. By day, he passed through mountains covered in nine feet of snow, hamlets burned and emptied by the Taliban, and communities thriving amid the remains of medieval civilizations. By night he slept on villagers' floors, shared their meals, and listened to their stories of the recent and ancient past.

While America held its breath in the days immediately following 9/11, a small but determined group of CIA agents covertly began to change history. This is the riveting first-person account of the treacherous top-secret mission inside Afghanistan to set the stage for the defeat of the Taliban and launch the war on terror. As thrilling as any novel, First In is a uniquely intimate look at a mission that began the US retaliation against terrorism - and reclaimed the country of Afghanistan for its people.

Until the war in Iraq, the Special Forces were the military's counterinsurgency experts. Their specialty was going behind enemy lines and training insurgent forces. In Afghanistan, they toppled the Taliban by transforming Northern Alliance fighters into cohesive units. But in the almost nine years since, Special Forces units have forgone their previous mission, instead focusing on offensive raids.

In a remote enemy-held valley in Afghanistan, a Special Forces team planned to scale a steep mountain to surprise and capture a terrorist leader. But before they found the target, the target found them. The team was caught in a deadly ambush that threatened not only their lives but the entire mission. The elite soldiers fought huddled for hours on a small rock ledge as rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine-gun fire rained down on them.

Kandahar. The ancient desert crossroads and, as of fall of 2001, ground zero for the Taliban and al-Qa'ida in southern Afghanistan. In the northern part of the country, the US-supported Northern Alliance has made progress on the battlefield, but in the south, the country is still under the Taliban's bloody hold and al-Qa'ida continues to operate there. With no "Southern Alliance" for the US to support, a new strategy is needed if victory is to be achieved. Veteran CIA officer Duane Evans is dispatched to Pakistan to "get something going in the South." Foxtrot in Kandahar is his story.

The task of implementing an effective American policy and cementing Afghan rule is hampered by what Isby sees as separate but overlapping conflicts between terrorism, narcotics, and regional rivalries, each presenting separate yet equally challenging issues to resolve. This book provides the road map to overcoming these obstacles and finding a way forward for the U.S. and the Afghan nation.

Special Forces have played an extremely important role in the War in Afghanistan and none more so than the U.S. Navy SEALs. From the onset of the war in Afghanistan they have participated in many varied operations. Operation Anaconda being one such example of a deadly operation which saw SEALs fighting for their lives. Afghan Warrior takes you through some hard-fought encounters from the densely-packed warren of walled compounds that doubled neatly as enemy bunkers, lush orchards to high up in the rugged mountainous border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Fighting an enemy with years ...

Afghanistan traces the historic struggles and the changing nature of political authority in this volatile region of the world, from the Mughal Empire in the 16th century to the Taliban resurgence today. Thomas Barfield introduces listeners to the bewildering diversity of tribal and ethnic groups in Afghanistan, explaining what unites them as Afghans despite the regional, cultural, and political differences that divide them.

How did DEA agents orchestrate the capture of one of the world’s most wanted weapons dealers? How does an all-female, unarmed group of rangers stop poachers from killing South Africa’s most majestic wild animals? And how did a scrappy crew of soldiers help desperate Afghans escape Kabul during the Taliban’s rapid takeover? Welcome to Heroes Behind Headlines: Only the Brave, where host Ralph Pezzullo takes you on deep dives into extraordinary true stories, told to you by the experts and the brave men and women who lived them.

Afghanistan, a landlocked country in Central Asia, has improbably been at the center of international geopolitics for four decades. After the Soviet Union invaded in 1980, Afghanistan descended into an unending conflict that featured at various points most of the world's major powers. In Afghanistan: What Everyone Needs to Know, leading scholar Barnett R. Rubin provides an overview of this complicated nation. After providing a concise history of Afghanistan, he explores the various peoples and cultures of the country and its relations with neighbors like Pakistan and Iran.

Ed Macy had always dreamed of a career in the army, so when the British Army Air Corps launched its attack helicopter program, Macy bent every rule in the book to make sure he was the first to sign up to fly the Apache—the deadliest, most technically advanced helicopter in the world and the toughest to fly. In 2007, Macy's Apache squadron was dispatched to Afghanistan's notorious Helmand Province with the mission to fight alongside and protect the men on the ground by any means necessary.

The Taliban movement’s lightning recapture of Afghanistan after a twenty-year American occupation confirmed its place as one of the world’s most consequential insurgent groups as well as Islamist political actors. Yet to this day the Taliban remain one of the world’s least understood regimes, their ultraconservative rule and military prowess coexisting with a demonstrated respect for justice under an unusual interpretation of Islamic law. In this book, the first of its kind in the English language to address the movement’s history as both a governing and insurgent group, Ibrahim ...

"First you will come to the Sirens who enchant all who come near them. If anyone unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field and warble him to death with the sweetness of their song. "There is a great heap of dead men's bones lying all around, with the flesh still rotting off them. Therefore pass these Sirens by, and stop your men's ears with wax that none of them may hear." (Odyssey. Book 12, 188-191). Everyone dreams. However, some of us dream about a nightmare that is a timeless ...

Booklist calls this powerful debut by Roberta Gately an “utterly engrossing read.” In the months after 9/11, Boston nurse Elsa Murphy volunteers to go to Afghanistan to work in a small clinic. Although her new surroundings take some adjusting to, Elsa soon finds friendship with a young Afghani woman and potential romance with a U.S. soldier. But Elsa’s newfound happiness is threatened when Taliban forces move in.

Terrorists obtain a nuclear bomb ...and it’s heading for America. Green Beret operative George Ferrar faces his nemesis in a dark cave in Afghanistan…then learns that a loose nuke is heading to America's heartland. But who will believe him? Everybody from the CIA to the FBI to Congress thinks he has turned against America. Ferrar is resourceful, knowledgeable, and deadly, but must take his game to a whole new level to stay alive, track down the bomb, and save the nation. He races against time as the bomb slips through the hands of numerous countries, from Pakistan to Bahrain to Canada ...

This book offers a fresh insight into the conquests of Alexander the Great by attempting to view the events of 336-323 BCE from the vantage point of the defeated.