Losing Afghanistan: An Obituary for the Intervention

Synopsis

The Us-led Intervention In Afghanistan Mobilized Hundreds Of Thousnads Of Individuals And Billions Of Dollars. But What Was Gained? Why Did Development Money Not Lead To More Development? Why Did A Military Presence Make Things More Dangerous? Through The Stories Of Four Individuals Operating Around Bagram Airbase--an Ambassador, A Navy Seal, A Young Afghan Businessman, And An Engineer--noah Coburn Weaves A Vivid Account Of The Challenges And Contraditions Of Intervention Life. These Compelling Stories And Analysis Reveal An Intervention That Steps Outside The Tired Paradigm Of The Unruly Afghan Tribes, Uber-effective Taliban Resistance, And A Corrupt Karzai Government To Show How The Intervention Became An Entity Unto Itself, One Doomed To Collapse Under The Weight Of Its Own Bureaucracy And Contradictory Intentions--page [4] Of Cover. Surveying The Intervention From Above -- Intervening -- The Exotic Tribes Of The Intervention -- Before The Invasion -- A New Era? -- Contracting The Intervention -- Climbing Over The Wall -- The Merchant-warlord Alternative -- Warlord Density And Its Discontents -- How To Host Your Own Shura -- The Pieces Left Behind. Noah Coburn. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 229-237) And Index.