By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
ISBN-10: 0307957144
ISBN-13: 9780307957146
From the award-winning writer of Imperial existence within the Emerald City, a riveting, intimate account of America’s stricken conflict in Afghanistan.
whilst President Barack Obama ordered the surge of troops and reduction to Afghanistan, Washington Post correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran undefined. He chanced on the hassle sabotaged not just by means of Afghan and Pakistani malfeasance yet by way of infighting and incompetence in the American govt: a struggle cupboard arrested by way of vicious bickering between best nationwide safety aides; diplomats and relief staff who didn't convey on their grand delivers; generals who dispatched troops to the inaccurate areas; and headstrong army leaders who sought a much more expansive crusade than the White residence sought after. via their bungling and quarreling, they wound up squandering the 1st yr of the surge.
Chandrasekaran explains how the USA hasn't ever understood Afghanistan—and most likely by no means will. through the chilly warfare, American engineers undertook an enormous improvement venture throughout southern Afghanistan in an try to woo the rustic from Soviet impact. They outfitted dams and irrigation canals, and so they proven a comfortable residential group referred to as Little the US, with a Western-style tuition, a coed group pool, and a luxurious clubhouse—all of which embodied American and Afghan hopes for a vivid destiny and a detailed courting. yet within the past due 1970s—after becoming Afghan resistance and a Communist coup—the americans deserted the area to warlords and poppy farmers.
in a single revelatory scene after one other, Chandrasekaran follows American efforts to reclaim the exact same territory from the Taliban. alongside the best way, we meet a military normal whose event because the most sensible army officer accountable for Iraq’s eco-friendly quarter couldn’t organize him for the bureaucratic knots of Afghanistan, a Marine commander whose wish to cost into distant hamlets conflicted with civilian priorities, and a war-seasoned diplomat annoyed in his push for a scaled-down yet long term American dedication. Their struggles convey how Obama’s wish of an outstanding battle, and the Pentagon’s hope for a powerful victory, reduced in size at the arid plains of southern Afghanistan.
Meticulously said, highly revealing, Little the US is an remarkable exam of a failing war—and an eye-opening examine the advanced dating among the US and Afghanistan.
Review
“Fascinating and clean . . . Chandrasekaran is an excellent reporter and sleek author whose person vignettes, serious about army and civilian misfires, are on-target and infrequently mortifying.”
-Max Boot, The Wall highway Journal
“Brilliant . . . just a journalist with Chandrasekaran’s event and ability may well inform this terribly complex tale with such clarity.”
-June Thomas, Newsday
“Sharp and refined . . . significantly informative . . . Little the United States doesn't disappoint.”
-Bill O’Leary, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Chandrasekaran’s apt portrayal of the Afghan viewpoint and on-the-ground tensions makes the ebook a needs to for coverage shapers and electorate alike.”
-Hamed Aleaziz, mom Jones
“A must-read account . . . Little the United States is the easiest paintings but in addressing our military-diplomatic crusade in Afghanistan and the disorder that stymies it.”
-Peter J. Munson, Small Wars Journal
“Searing . . . sturdy and well timed reporting, crackling prose, and greater than a bit controversy will make this one of many summer’s scorching reads.”
-Starred evaluation, Publishers Weekly
“Clearheaded . . . Well-researched and compelling . . . Chandrasekaran captures the absurdity of a bumbling paperwork trying to reengineer in its personal picture a society that's part an international away . . . A well timed, convincing portrait of an career in crisis.”
-Kirkus
“Drawing on interviews with key contributors and 3 years of first-hand reportage, Chandrasekaran grants a bracing analysis of the problem.”
-Booklist
About the Author
Rajiv Chandrasekaran is a senior correspondent and affiliate editor on the Washington submit, the place he has labored considering the fact that 1994. He has said from greater than 3 dozen nations and has served because the newspaper’s bureau leader in Baghdad, Cairo, and Southeast Asia. he's the writer of Imperial existence within the Emerald urban: within Iraq’s eco-friendly region, a finalist for the nationwide publication Award and one of many big apple Times’s 10 top Books of 2007. He lives in Washington, D.C.
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Extra info for Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan
Example text
A woman’s written words could do more damage than anything encountered at the camp. There were several illiterate prisoners in Arthur’s section and often he would read their mail for them. On one occasion, he was approached by the youngest, waving a recently received and precious letter from home. They retired to a quiet corner of the hut and Arthur slowly read its contents to a man who had married not long before he was called up. At the end of the first paragraph, Arthur stopped abruptly. The man’s wife had just given birth, yet her husband had been away for what was now the best part of three years.
The two men shared a tent and had a lot to talk about. The company was shortly afterwards joined by an arrogant lance-corporal who had those with nothing better to do picking up wastepaper from all corners of the camp. Nobody was sorry to see the back of him when he was transferred. A few days later, Arthur’s company was posted to Ikingee in Egypt where they joined up with 307 Company (Ammunition) and were attached to the 66th RASC, the largest of its kind in Africa. On arrival, almost the first person they came across was the arrogant lance-corporal from Genifa, now wearing his sergeant’s stripes.
After the war Arthur met up with one of the escapees in Hastings. ‘Ginger’, as he knew him, was able to tell him that once clear of the camp, they made their way to a small fishing port close to Rome and posed as fishermen aboard a trawler bound for the Greek islands. From there, home was an easy run and the three were each awarded an Oak Leaf for their endeavours, a medal that Arthur was denied on the draw of a card. His misfortune, though, was to have far greater consequences. Arthur spent six months at Farasabrina, after which time, in the early part of 1943, the men were split up and sent to different, more permanent camps.
Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
by Anthony
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