Afghanistan War: References & Edit History

Additional Reading

The Antecedents to War

Explorations of the events leading up to September 11, 2001, and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Afghanistan are provided by Steve Coll, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (2004); Stephen Tanner, Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the War Against the Taliban, updated ed. (2009); Barnett R. Rubin, The Fragmentation of Afghanistan: State Formation and Collapse in the International System, 2nd ed. (2002); and Jon Lee Anderson, The Lion’s Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan (2002).

Contemporary histories

Contemporary histories of the war include Seth G. Jones, In the Graveyard of Empires: America’s War in Afghanistan (2009); Antonio Giustozzi, Koran, Kalashnikov, and Laptop: The Neo-Taliban Insurgency in Afghanistan (2007); and Bob Woodward, Bush at War (2002). Ahmed Rashid, Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia (2009), offers a detailed critique of U.S. policy in the region. David Kilcullen, The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One (2009), presents an in-depth exploration of how counterinsurgency doctrine could be used in Afghanistan.

First-person accounts

Gary C. Schroen, First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan (2005), provides a veteran CIA officer’s account of the war’s initial stages. Sarah Chayes, The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban (2006), describes how U.S. policy in Afghanistan went adrift. Other insider accounts include Tommy Franks, American Soldier (2004); George Tenet, At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA (2007); Douglas J. Feith, War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism (2008); and Pervez Musharraf, In the Line of Fire: A Memoir (2006). Nicholas Schmidle, To Live or to Perish Forever: Two Tumultuous Years in Pakistan (2009), provides insights into the Pakistani militant groups that help feed the insurgency in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. .

Griff Witte

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Add new Web site: Teach Democracy - The War in Afghanistan: What Should America's Policy Be? Oct 21, 2024
Add new Web site: National Army Museum - War in Afghanistan. Jul 26, 2024
Corrected display issue. Apr 22, 2024
Add new Web site: University of Houston - Cullen College of Engineering - Raymond Albert Kroc. Feb 16, 2024
Add new Web site: United States Institute of Peace - In Afghanistan, Was a Loss Better than Peace? Dec 04, 2023
Media added. Sep 12, 2023
Link added. Aug 18, 2023
Add new Web site: Imperial War Museums - Afghanistan War: How did 9/11 lead to a 20-year war? May 15, 2023
Added mention of the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2021. Aug 16, 2021
Revised the discussion of the war's prelude. Oct 31, 2020
Add new Web site: The Canadian Encyclopedia - War in Afghanistan. Oct 04, 2018
Revised discussion of the opium industry in Afghanistan. Feb 21, 2018
Media added. May 02, 2017
Media added. Oct 14, 2016
Add new Web site: BBC History - The War in Afghanistan. Feb 06, 2015
Add new Web site: BBC History - The War in Afghanistan. Feb 06, 2015
Updated to mention the signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement in September 2014 and the end of NATO combat operations in December 2014. Dec 30, 2014
Updated to mention events of 2012. Mar 07, 2013
Updated to mention events of late 2011 and early 2012. May 03, 2012
Updated to mention Obama's announcement of an accelerated timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Jun 23, 2011
Updated to mention that Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan on May 2, 2011. May 02, 2011
New bibliography added. Feb 08, 2011
Updated to mention the contents of the documents released online by WikiLeaks. Jul 27, 2010
Further description of McChrystal dismissal added. Jun 28, 2010
Added description of Pres. Obama's dismissal of Gen. McChrystal. Jun 23, 2010
New article added. Jun 07, 2010
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