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Our Latest Longest War

Losing Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan

The first rule of warfare is to know one’s enemy. The second is to know thyself. More than fifteen years and three quarters of a trillion dollars after the US invasion of Afghanistan, it’s clear that the United States followed neither rule well.

America’s goals in Afghanistan were lofty to begin with: dismantle al Qaeda, remove the Taliban from power, remake the country into a democracy. But not only did the mission come completely unmoored from reality, the United States wasted billions of dollars, and thousands of lives were lost. Our Latest Longest War is a chronicle of how, why, and in what ways the war in Afghanistan failed. Edited by historian and Marine lieutenant colonel Aaron B. O’Connell, the essays collected here represent nine different perspectives on the war—all from veterans of the conflict, both American and Afghan. Together, they paint a picture of a war in which problems of culture and an unbridgeable rural-urban divide derailed nearly every field of endeavor. The authors also draw troubling parallels to the Vietnam War, arguing that deep-running ideological currents in American life explain why the US government has repeatedly used armed nation-building to try to transform failing states into modern, liberal democracies. In Afghanistan, as in Vietnam, this created a dramatic mismatch of means and ends that neither money, technology, nor the force of arms could overcome.

The war in Afghanistan has been the longest in US history, and in many ways, the most confounding.  Few who fought in it think it has been worthwhile.  These are difficult topics for any American or Afghan to consider, especially those who lost friends or family in it. This sobering history—written by the very people who have been fighting the war—is impossible to ignore.

An audiobook version is available.


400 pages | 25 halftones | 6 x 9 | © 2017

History: American History, Military History

Political Science: Diplomacy, Foreign Policy, and International Relations

Reviews

“Contributors to the volume—almost all military veterans of the Afghan war—generally agree that the American people are culturally unable to win wars like this one. . . . This enlightening volume is probably the best introduction to what went wrong there, and why.”

New York Times Book Review

“Brings together a group of uniquely qualified and talented authors to examine US military operations in Afghanistan. . . . This is a difficult read about the complex subject of culture as applied to a complex nation-state. Much of it deals with the inability of Americans to solve Afghanistan’s problems. However, for those interested in US national security issues and the limits of power, O’Connell’s volume is necessary reading.”

Publishers Weekly

“Nothing has ever been easy in the shadow of the Hindu Kush, and the essays in Our Latest Longest War convey that accurately, thoughtfully, and unblinkingly.  This superb collection of essays by scholars and practitioners illuminates the innumerable challenges and harsh realities with which those of us engaged in Afghanistan contended in our collective endeavor to ensure that the country was never again a sanctuary for Al Qaeda or other transnational extremists—as it was when the 9/11 attacks were planned there.”

General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret), Commander, | US Central Command 2008-10, Intnl Security Assistance Force & US Forces in Afghanistan 2010-11

“This critique of the US intervention in Afghanistan compels attention because all the contributors, both American and Afghan, are veterans of the conflict, and the different chapter topics are mutually complementary. . . . Recommended.”

Choice

Our Latest Longest War is a unique collection of essays, written by those who actually implemented Afghanistan policy in the field, not by the senior government officials halfway around the world in Washington. The complexity and difficulty of counterinsurgency warfare are made clear in this superbly edited book. A must read for government and military leaders tempted to frame decisions as overly simplistic binary choices, and for those who are called upon to serve at ‘the tip of the spear’ and face realities not understood and acknowledged at the strategic level.”

Karl W. Eikenberry | ambassador and Lieutenant General, retired, US Army, Oksenberg-Rohlen Distinguished Fellow, Stanford

“A measured and clear-eyed look at the deep rooted challenges embedded in the ongoing effort to achieve a stable and successful outcome in Afghanistan—many of which are of our own making through inattention to the history and culture of this complex nation. As NATO Commander with overall strategic command of the operation, I watched four successive ISAF Commanders—loyal subordinates and brilliant Generals all—try and fail to overcome the inherent contradictions in our approach. This collection of well sourced essays illuminates our collective failures, despite the best of intentions.”

Admiral James Stavridis | USN (Ret), Supreme Allied Commander at NATO 2009–2013

“Grimly insightful. . .Our Latest Longest War deserves close reading and careful reflection by anyone (in particular, US government officials with a role in national defense) wishing to learn about the Afghan War and the American way of war. Aaron O'Connell and his coauthors are to be congratulated for clarifying so powerfully the hubris and limits of American and Western power in Afghanistan.”

Michigan War Studies Review

Table of Contents

Introduction    Moving Mountains: Cultural Friction in the Afghanistan War
Lieutenant Colonel Aaron B. O’Connell, USMC

Chapter One    Washington Goes to War
Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann

Chapter Two   US Strategy in Afghanistan: A Tragedy in Five Acts           
Lieutenant Colonel Colin Jackson, USA

Chapter Three In Our Own Image: Training the Afghan National Security Forces
Dr. Martin Loicano and Captain Craig C. Felker, USN

Chapter Four   The Impact of Culture on Policing in Afghanistan
Captain Pashtoon Atif, ANP

Chapter Five   Building and Undermining Legitimacy: Reconstruction and Development in Afghanistan
Lieutenant Commander Jamie Lynn De Coster, USN

Chapter Six     Rule of Law and Governance in Afghanistan, 2001–2014   
Colonel Abigail T. Linnington, USA, and Lieutenant Colonel Rebecca D. Patterson, USA

Chapter Seven Liberalism Does Its Thing      
Captain Aaron MacLean, USMC

Chapter Eight  Organizing like the Enemy: Special Operations Forces, Afghan Culture, and Village Stability Operations
Lieutenant Commander Daniel R. Green, USN

Chapter Nine   Leaving Afghanistan 
Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin F. Jones, USAF

Conclusion      Our Latest Longest War        
Lieutenant Colonel Aaron B. O’Connell, USMC

Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Notes
About the Contributors

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