To Lose a War: The Fall and Rise of the Taliban

From one of the great foreign correspondents of our time, this book is the first full accounting of the era in Afghanistan from before 9/11 to the return of the Taliban to power in 2021. It combines previously published dispatches and new reporting into a comprehensive account. The author first reported from Afghanistan in the late 1980s during the US-backed mujahideen's insurgency against the Soviet-backed regime. He was also an early eyewitness to the US-led war launched against the Taliban and Al Qaeda after the 9/11 attacks. The narrative covers the period when the American military initially gained success, the unstable peace that followed, and the reorganization of the Taliban for a comeback. It details the ongoing struggles, missed signals, and the complex dynamics that resulted in what is considered one of the greatest foreign policy failures of the modern era, reflecting on a near-quarter-century of conflict and its implications.