20 Best Books About Afghanistan (2023 Update)

A best book of the year: the economist, slate, kirkus reviewsin 1839, nearly 20,000 british troops poured through the mountain passes into afghanistan and installed the exiled shah shuja on the throne as their puppet. but after little more than two years, the afghans exploded into rebellion. the british were forced to retreat—and were then ambushed in the mountains by simply-equipped afghan tribesmen. just one british man made it through. but dalrymple takes us beyond the story of this colonial humiliation and illuminates the key connections between then and now. shah shuja and president hamid karzai share the same tribal heritage; the shah’s principal opponents were the ghilzai tribe, who today make up the bulk of the taliban’s foot soldiers. dalrymple explains the byzantine complexity of afghanistan’s age-old tribal rivalries, their stranglehold on politics, and how they ensnared both the british of the nineteenth century and nato forces today. rich with newly discovered primary sources, this stunning narrative is the definitive account of the first battle for afghanistan.

Band of brothers meets argo in this dramatic and heartfelt dual memoir of the war in afghanistan told by two men from opposite worlds. always faithful entwines the stories of marine major tom schueman, and his friend and afghan interpreter, zainullah "zak" zaki, as they describe their parallel lives, converging paths, and unbreakable bond in the face of overwhelming danger, culminating in zak and his family's harrowing escape from kabul. in august of 2021, just days shy of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, america ended its longest war. the speed of the afghanistan's fall was so stunning that thousands of afghan citizens who had helped american forces over the course of two decades–and had been promised visas in return–were suddenly stranded, in extreme, imminent danger. as the world watched the shocking scenes of desperation at the kabul airport in the final two weeks of august, maj. tom schueman fought–both behind the scenes and through a social media campaign–to get his friend and former afghan interpreter, zak, out of afghanistan before he and his family were discovered by the taliban. when zak and his family finally took off from the airport mere days before the us left the country, the years-long effort to get zak to america culminated in two simple words on instagram: "wheels up." now in always faithful, tom and zak tell the full story of the divergent paths that led them to afghanistan, the dangerous road they walked together in service to america, and how their commitment to each other ended up saving them both. brilliantly told in tom's and zak's alternating first person voices, always faithful tracks the parallel lives of these two men who each spent their childhoods in fear, peril, and poverty, and turned to war in attempt to build a meaningful future. on an inevitable course towards each other, their lives dovetail in afghanistan's deadly helmand valley, where they formed a brotherhood that transcends even the most overwhelming of odds, eventually culminating in zak's harrowing, eleventh-hour rescue. the end result is an intensely personal and uniquely ground-level account of tom and zak's experience, always faithful gives readers a 360-degree view of the war. at once provocative and heart pounding, their stories together form a microcosm of the complicated and lasting effects of america's longest war.

“the story of what dakota did . . . will be told for generations.”—president barack obama, from remarks given at meyer's medal of honor ceremonyin the fall of 2009, taliban insurgents ambushed a patrol of afghan soldiers and marine advisors in a mountain village called ganjigal. firing from entrenched positions, the enemy was positioned to wipe out one hundred men who were pinned down and were repeatedly refused artillery support. ordered to remain behind with the vehicles, twenty-one year-old marine corporal dakota meyer disobeyed orders and attacked to rescue his comrades. with a brave driver at the wheel, meyer stood in the gun turret exposed to withering fire, rallying afghan troops to follow. over the course of the five hours, he charged into the valley time and again. employing a variety of machine guns, rifles, grenade launchers, and even a rock, meyer repeatedly repulsed enemy attackers, carried wounded afghan soldiers to safety, and provided cover for dozens of others to escape—supreme acts of valor and determination. in the end, meyer and four stalwart comrades—an army captain, an afghan sergeant major, and two marines—cleared the battlefield and came to grips with a tragedy they knew could have been avoided. for his actions on that day, meyer became the first living marine in three decades to be awarded the medal of honor. into the fire tells the full story of the chaotic battle of ganjigal for the first time, in a compelling, human way that reveals it as a microcosm of our recent wars. meyer takes us from his upbringing on a farm in kentucky, through his marine and sniper training, onto the battlefield, and into the vexed aftermath of his harrowing exploits in a battle that has become the stuff of legend. investigations ensued, even as he was pitched back into battle alongside u.s. army soldiers who embraced him as a fellow grunt. when it was over, he returned to the states to confront living with the loss of his closest friends. this is a tale of american values and upbringing, of stunning heroism, and of adjusting to loss and to civilian life. marines, and afghan soldiers who'd been abandoned and faced certain death. meticulously researched and thrillingly told, with nonstop pace and vivid detail, into the fire is the unvarnished story of a modern american hero.praise for into the fire “a story of men at their best and at their worst . . . leaves you gaping in admiration at medal of honor winner dakota meyer's courage.”—national review “meyer's dazzling bravery wasn't momentary or impulsive but deliberate and sustained.”—the wall street journal “[a] cathartic, heartfelt account . . . combat memoirs don't get any more personal.”—kirkus reviews “a great contribution to the discussion of an agonizingly complex subject.”—the virginian-pilot “black hawk down meets lone survivor.”—library journal

A few bad men is the incredible true story of an elite team of u.s. marines set up to take the fall for afghanistan war crimes they did not commit—and their leader who fought for the redemption of his men.ambushed in afghanistan and betrayed by their own leaders—these elite marines fought for their lives again, back home. a cross between a few good men and american sniper, this is the true story of an elite marine special operations unit bombed by an ied and shot at during an afghanistan ambush. the marine commandos were falsely accused of gunning down innocent afghan civilians following the ambush. the unit’s leader, maj. fred galvin, was summarily relieved of duty and his unit was booted from the combat zone. they were condemned by everyone, from the afghan president to american generals. when fox company returned to america, galvin and his captain were the targets of the first court of inquiry in the marines in fifty years. “fred galvin is the real deal. his dramatic retelling of his experience as commander of fox company reads like a thriller, full of twists and turns, filled with unassuming heroes and deceitful villains.” — rob lorenz, producer/director, american sniper, flags of our fathers, letters from iwo jima, mystic river, the marksman “fred galvin has written a real ‘page turner’ that demonstrates how politics permeates the pentagon and posts abroad…i highly recommend this book.” — j.d. hayworth, u.s. gen. paul vallely, u.s. army (ret.), deputy commander, u.s. pacific command

By the author of destiny disrupted: an enlightening, lively, accessible, history of afghanistan from 1840 to today, from the afghan point of view, that illuminates how great power conflicts have interrupted an ongoing, internal struggle to take form as a nation.five times in the last two centuries, some great power has tried to invade, occupy, or otherwise take control of afghanistan. and as tamim ansary shows in this illuminating history, every intervention has come to grief in much the same way and for much the same reason: the intervening power has failed to understand that afghanistan has a story of its own, a story that continues to unfold between, and despite, the interventions. games without rules tells this story from the inside looking out. drawing on his afghan background, muslim roots, and western and afghan sources, ansary weaves an epic that moves from a universe of village republics–the old afghanistan–through a tumultuous drama of tribes, factions, and forces, to the current struggle. ansary paints a richly textured portrait of a nation that began to form around the same time as the united states but is still struggling to coalesce; a nation driven by its high ambitions but undermined by its own demons, while every forty to sixty years a great power crashes in and disrupts whatever progress has been made. a compelling narrative told in an accessible, conversational style, games without rules offers revelatory insight into a country long at the center of international debate, but never fully understood by the outside world.

A colossal history of afghanistan from its earliest organization into a coherent state up to its turbulent present. located at the intersection of asia and the middle east, afghanistan has been strategically important for thousands of years. its ancient routes and strategic position between india, inner asia, china, persia, and beyond has meant the region has been subject to frequent invasions, both peaceful and military. as a result, modern afghanistan is a culturally and ethnically diverse country, but one divided by conflict, political instability, and by mass displacements of its people. in this magisterial illustrated history, jonathan l. lee tells the story of how a small tribal confederacy in a politically and culturally significant but volatile region became a modern nation-state. drawing on more than forty years of study, lee places the current conflict in afghanistan in its historical context and challenges many of the west's preconceived ideas about the country. focusing particularly on the powerful durrani monarchy, which united the country in 1747 and ruled for nearly two and a half centuries, lee chronicles the origins of the dynasty as clients of safavid persia and mughal india: the reign of each ruler and their efforts to balance tribal, ethnic, regional, and religious factions; the struggle for social and constitutional reform; and the rise of islamic and communist factions. along the way, he offers new cultural and political insights from persian histories, the memoirs of afghan government officials, british government and india office archives, and recently released cia reports and wikileaks documents. he also sheds new light on the country's foreign relations, its internal power struggles, and the impact of foreign military interventions such as the "war on terror."

Rugged, remote, riven by tribal rivalries and religious violence, afghanistan seems to many a country frozen in time and forsaken by the world. afghan modern presents a bold challenge to these misperceptions, revealing how afghans, over the course of their history, have engaged and connected with a wider world and come to share in our modern globalized age.always a mobile people, afghan travelers, traders, pilgrims, scholars, and artists have ventured abroad for centuries, their cosmopolitan sensibilities providing a compass for navigating a constantly changing world. robert crews traces the roots of afghan globalism to the early modern period, when, as the subjects of sprawling empires, the residents of kabul, kandahar, and other urban centers forged linkages with far-flung imperial centers throughout the middle east and asia. focusing on the emergence of an afghan state out of this imperial milieu, he shows how afghan nation-making was part of a series of global processes, refuting the usual portrayal of afghans as pawns in the “great game” of european powers and of afghanistan as a “hermit kingdom.” in the twentieth century, the pace of afghan interaction with the rest of the world dramatically increased, and many afghan men and women came to see themselves at the center of ideological struggles that spanned the globe. through revolution, war, and foreign occupations, afghanistan became even more enmeshed in the global circulation of modern politics, occupying a pivotal position in the cold war and the tumultuous decades that followed.

It has been said that afghanistan is the "graveyard of empires" with a history of 5,000 years. it is also said that it has just reached a hundred year's occupation of successive invasions by great britain, the soviet union and nato along with the united states of america. as a landlocked country, afghanistan is known as the "heart of asia" and has been a battlefield for the foibles of first-world countries for many decades. the stories in this book reveal the situations of the afghans throughout the last twenty-five years in a less than amicable environment. the reader will encounter the real meaning of afghanistan, which at times is not as civil as perceived by western views. it also shows the heart and soul of a country that invites everyone to love and be loved in return.

"as u.s. troops prepare to withdraw, the shocking tale of how the american military had triumph in sight in afghanistan–and then brought the taliban back from the dead. in the popular imagination, afghanistan is often regarded as the site of intractable conflict, the american war against the taliban a perpetually hopeless quagmire. but as anand gopal demonstrates in this stunning chronicle, top taliban leaders were in fact ready to surrender within months of the u.s. invasion of afghanistan, renouncing all political activity and submitting to the new government. effectively, the taliban ceased to exist–yet the american forces were not ready to accept such a turnaround. driven by false intelligence from corrupt warlords and by a misguided conviction that taliban members could never change sides, the u.s. instead continued to press the conflict, resurrecting the insurgency that persists to this day. gopal's dramatic narrative, full of vivid personal detail, follows three afghans through years of u.s. missteps: a taliban commander, a u.s.-backed warlord, and a housewife trapped in the middle of the fighting. with its intimate accounts of life in small afghan villages, and harrowing tales of crimes committed by taliban leaders and american-supported provincial officials alike, no good men among the living lays bare the workings of america's longest war and the truth behind its prolonged agony.–publisher information.

On a moonless night just weeks after september 11, 2001, a u.s. special forces team of green berets known as oda 574 infiltrated the mountains of southern afghanistan with a seemingly impossible mission: to foment a tribal revolt and force the taliban to surrender. armed solely with the equipment they could carry on their backs, shockingly scant intelligence, and their mastery of guerrilla warfare, captain jason amerine and his ten men had no choice but to trust their only ally, a little-known pashtun statesman named hamid karzai. having returned from exile, karzai—on the run from the taliban—was traveling the countryside to raise a militia. the only thing worth dying for chronicles the most important mission in the early days of the global war on terror, when the men on the ground knew little about the enemy—and their commanders in washington knew even less. with unprecedented access to surviving members of oda 574, key war planners, and karzai himself, award-winning author eric blehm cuts through the noise of politicians and high-level military officials to narrate for the first time a story of uncommon bravery and terrible sacrifice, intimately exposing the realities of unconventional warfare and nation-building in afghanistan that continue to shape the region today.

Afghanistan without borders: the haqqani network and the road to kabul is the untold story of the origins, political awakening, and rise of what the united states and its allies call the haqqani network, and what the haqqani family calls the haqqani mujahideen. the author lived with the haqqanis as a young reporter for the new york times in the 1980s, in the mountains of eastern afghanistan, when they were america's allies in the afghan-soviet war. after 9/11, the network became america's enemy. this book tells the exciting story of how the author began to try to find the haqqanis again, and, later, his quest to understand their influence in the greater middle east. this is the story of the rise of an ideology and movement born in the mongol conquest of baghdad in 1258, which resurfaced in arabia and india in the 18th century, lived on in the anti-christian, anti-british, anti-european, and anti-russian colonial movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, and in modern times evolved, with american help, into the haqqani mujahideen and their allies and followers around the world.

A few short months removed from the events of 9/11, lt warner is a young reserve officer with a burning desire to serve. presented with the opportunity to do so in the new global war on terror, he jumps into his new assignment full blast, oozing with patriotism, a lot of cockiness, and not much of a plan. but soon enough he finds that his new normal will be clouded with uncertainty. new soldiers, new leadership, and a new geographic location are just the tip of the iceberg. as the rear cargo door of the plane lowers to reveal a pitch-black afghanistan night, the young leader encounters his first real challenge: simply leading the team off the airplane-over an airfield riddled with landmines. from there, 20-year letter follows lt warner throughout the entire undertaking, chronicling the bad, the terrifying, the stressful, and even a little bit of the good. his tale is a comprehensive perspective of everything that isn't glamorous about war.

Since 2000, john weaver has been a flame on the front line sharing god's love in afghanistan. he serves as a team leader for shelter now, which has been helping afghans for over 25 years. john is the happy husband of jeanne, whom he met and married in afghanistan. "i saw john weaver for the first time in october 2001 on abc world news tonight with peter jennings. when john's face appeared on the screen, i knew there was something special about him. i could see it in his eyes, his smile, and his interaction with the afghan people." – franklin graham, president of the billy graham evangelistic association and samaritan's purse. journey from america to afghanistan is an invitation to step into an incredible adventure led by the sovereign king. the voyage features views of earthly struggles and saving grace; painful experiences and purposeful excursions; disappointing failures and dreams fulfilled. it also explores aspects of life in the islamic republic of afghanistan. this inspiring story is both enjoyable and unforgettable. join us inside… john and jeanne weaver, with their three sons, live and work as a family of flames. proceeds from this book support the work of shelter now afghanistan.

On september 11. 2001 invaded afghanistan. the taliban government refused to hand over 'osama bin laden' whom the united states deemed responsible for 9/11 attacks. the war is traced from then till the end of 2021. george w. bush was president, he was instrumental in this decision. causalities in the 20-year war some 176,000. 46,000 civilians, 2,420 us, and 3.576 coalition. cost $8 trillion. on october 7. 2021 the war officially ended. in 2001 there were 45,000 taliban, in 2021, 90,000 and 50,000 support elements. the poem also has current events of 2021, and authors life. stephen sweigart is retired and works part time, after working forty years full time. he wrote a number of poetry books and traveled to europe. he lives in new jersey near philadelphia, in same house since 1985, and was born near there. his books number eleven.

A washington post best book of 2021 the #1 new york times bestselling investigative story of how three successive presidents and their military commanders deceived the public year after year about america’s longest war, foreshadowing the taliban’s recapture of afghanistan, by washington post reporter and three-time pulitzer prize finalist craig whitlock.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. distracted by the war in iraq, the us military become mired in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country it did not understand. but no president wanted to admit failure, especially in a war that began as a just cause. instead, the bush, obama, and trump administrations sent more and more troops to afghanistan and repeatedly said they were making progress, even though they knew there was no realistic prospect for an outright victory. just as the pentagon papers changed the public’s understanding of vietnam, the afghanistan papers contains “fast-paced and vivid” (the new york times book review) revelation after revelation from people who played a direct role in the war from leaders in the white house and the pentagon to soldiers and aid workers on the front lines. in unvarnished language, they admit that the us government’s strategies were a mess, that the nation-building project was a colossal failure, and that drugs and corruption gained a stranglehold over their allies in the afghan government. all told, the account is based on interviews with more than 1,000 people who knew that the us government was presenting a distorted, and sometimes entirely fabricated, version of the facts on the ground. documents unearthed by the washington post reveal that president bush didn’t know the name of his afghanistan war commander—and didn’t want to meet with him. secretary of defense donald rumsfeld admitted that he had “no visibility into who the bad guys are.” the afghanistan papers is a “searing indictment of the deceit, blunders, and hubris of senior military and civilian officials” (tom bowman, nrp pentagon correspondent) that will supercharge a long-overdue reckoning over what went wrong and forever change the way the conflict is remembered.

A nearly impossible undercover mission may be the only chance to stop a terrorist attack in this action-packed thriller by #1 new york times bestselling author frederick forsyth.when british and american intelligence discover an al qaeda operation in the works, they need a man on the inside to get ahead of a possible attack. they enlist colonel mike martin, a hardened veteran, to go undercover. colonel martin prepares to pass himself off as former senior taliban commander izmat khan and infiltrate the enemy. but nothing can prepare martin for the dark and shifting world he is about to enter—or the terrible things he will find there.

A washington post best book of 2021 the #1 new york times bestselling investigative story of how three successive presidents and their military commanders deceived the public year after year about america’s longest war, foreshadowing the taliban’s recapture of afghanistan, by washington post reporter and three-time pulitzer prize finalist craig whitlock.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. distracted by the war in iraq, the us military become mired in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country it did not understand. but no president wanted to admit failure, especially in a war that began as a just cause. instead, the bush, obama, and trump administrations sent more and more troops to afghanistan and repeatedly said they were making progress, even though they knew there was no realistic prospect for an outright victory. just as the pentagon papers changed the public’s understanding of vietnam, the afghanistan papers contains “fast-paced and vivid” (the new york times book review) revelation after revelation from people who played a direct role in the war from leaders in the white house and the pentagon to soldiers and aid workers on the front lines. in unvarnished language, they admit that the us government’s strategies were a mess, that the nation-building project was a colossal failure, and that drugs and corruption gained a stranglehold over their allies in the afghan government. all told, the account is based on interviews with more than 1,000 people who knew that the us government was presenting a distorted, and sometimes entirely fabricated, version of the facts on the ground. documents unearthed by the washington post reveal that president bush didn’t know the name of his afghanistan war commander—and didn’t want to meet with him. secretary of defense donald rumsfeld admitted that he had “no visibility into who the bad guys are.” the afghanistan papers is a “searing indictment of the deceit, blunders, and hubris of senior military and civilian officials” (tom bowman, nrp pentagon correspondent) that will supercharge a long-overdue reckoning over what went wrong and forever change the way the conflict is remembered.

An emotional and sweeping memoir of love and survival–and of a committed and desperate family uprooted and divided by the violent, changing landscape of afghanistan in the early 1980s. before the soviet invasion of 1980, enjeela ahmadi remembers her home–kabul, afghanistan–as peaceful, prosperous, and filled with people from all walks of life. but after her mother, unsettled by growing political unrest, leaves for medical treatment in india, the civil war intensifies, changing young enjeela's life forever. amid the rumble of invading soviet tanks, enjeela and her family are thrust into chaos and fear when it becomes clear that her mother will not be coming home. thus begins an epic, reckless, and terrifying five-year journey of escape for enjeela, her siblings, and their father to reconnect with her mother. in navigating the dangers ahead of them, and in looking back at the wilderness of her homeland, enjeela discovers the spiritual and physical strength to find hope in the most desperate of circumstances. a heart-stopping memoir of a girl shaken by the brutalities of war and empowered by the will to survive, the broken circle brilliantly illustrates that family is not defined by the borders of a country but by the bonds of the heart.

Alive with adventure, rich with exotic detail, the voice of rudyard kipling carried readers to faraway locations and brought new, exciting scenes to their doorsteps. born and raised in india, kipling became the voice of the eastern british empire, and his writing extensively covered central asia. early in his career, kipling drew inspiration not from travels of his own, but from working with far-flung correspondents at the civil and military gazette in lahore, pakistan, where he served as assistant editor. one of his chief correspondents was dr. charles owen, a close friend of his father's who served a tour of duty with the afghan boundary commission between 1884 and 1886 addressing the border dispute between great britain and russia. this historical biography provides a new perspective on kipling's days as an employee of the civil and military gazette. information garnered from newly uncovered letters and diaries of dr. owen (acquired by the national army museum in 1998) gives personal insight into kipling's life as well as firsthand perceptions of the boundary commission's work. in addition, appendices provide a wealth of information regarding articles by kipling, articles attributed to kipling or his supervisor wheeler, kipling's translations of russian dispatches, and boundary commission reports.

Just as u. s. soldiers and diplomats pulled out of afghanistan, supposedly concluding their role and responsibility in the two-decade conflict, the country fell to the taliban. in the long war, award-winning bbc foreign correspondent david loyn uncovers the political and military strategies—and failures—that prolonged america’s longest war. – three american presidents tried to defeat the taliban—sending 150,000 international troops at the war’s peak with a trillion-dollar price tag. but early policy mistakes that allowed osama bin laden to escape made the task far more difficult. deceived by easy victories, they backed ruthless corrupt local allies and misspent aid. – the story of the long war is told by the generals who led it through the hardest years of combat as surges of international troops tried to turn the tide. generals, which include david petraeus, stanley mc – chrystal, joe dunford and john allen, were tested in battle as never before. with the reputation of a “warrior monk,” mc – chrystal was considered one of the most gifted military leaders of his generation. he was one of two generals to be fired in this most public of commands. – holding together the coalition of countries who joined america’s fight in afghanistan was just one part of the multi-dimensional puzzle faced by the generals, as they fought an elusive and determined enemy while responsible for thousands of young american and allied lives. the long war goes behind the scenes of their command and of the afghan government. – the fourth president to take on the war, joe biden ordered troops to withdraw in 2021, twenty years after 9/11, just as the taliban achieved victory, leaving behind an unstable nation and an unforeseeable future.