Bøger om Afghanistan

Vietnam became the Western world's most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the 1968 Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and much less familiar miniatures such as the bloodbath at Daido?where a US Marine battalion was almost wiped out?together with extraordinary recollections of Ho Chi Minh's warriors. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people. Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it overwhelmingly as one for the Vietnamese people, of whom forty died for every American. US blunders and atrocities were matched by those committed by their enemies. While all the world has seen the image of a screaming, naked girl seared by napalm, it forgets countless eviscerations, beheadings, and murders carried out by the communists. The people of both former Vietnams paid a bitter price for the Northerners' victory in privation and oppression. Here we are given testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bar girls, and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, and Huey pilots from Arkansas. No past volume has blended a political and military narrative of the entire conflict with heart-stopping personal experiences in the fashion that Hastings's readers know so well. The author suggests that neither side deserved to win this struggle, and presents many lessons for the twenty-first century about the misuse of military might to confront intractable political and cultural challenges. In Vietnam, Hastings marshals testimony from warlords and peasants, statesmen and soldiers, to create an extraordinary record.

Some wars are destined to be fought forever... They call it 'The Graveyard of Empires' for good reason. For thousands of years, Afghanistan has been the rock that generations of would-be conquerors have perished on. What chance does one man stand in this place? So when ex-SAS major Ben Hope hears former bounty-hunter, Madison Cahill, needs his help he knows it will test him to his limits - and beyond. As the borders slam shut, he must trace his friend before the new regime does. His only lead? An ancient lost city founded by Alexander the Great and rediscovered by Madison's archaeologist father. The mission will take Ben back to a place he thought was firmly in his past, back to someone he can never leave behind - and back to some old comrades. Among these is SAS man turned assassin, Jaden Wolf. Wolf has come to Afghanistan with his own agenda and knows as well as Ben that the conditions they face may prove as lethal as their enemies. As they uncover old secrets, they find modern ones are just as dangerous. Who is the mysterious 'Spartan' that the British officials are so desperate to extract from behind enemy lines? And outnumbered and outgunned at every turn, is the pressure of being the last hope of the innocent too much to bear when surviving past sundown seems impossible?

A former soldier awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart tells the story of overcoming the mental and physical wounds of war on a fifteen year odyssey that led him back to the very place where his nightmares beganand the only place redemption was possible.While serving a portion of his time under the Special Operations Command, Benjamin Sledge fought to keep his humanity amid the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan. But war never leaves its participants uscathed. In Where Cowards Go to Die, Sledge reveals an unflinchingly honest portrait of war that few dare to tell. Stationed on a small base on the border of Pakistan in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, the young warrior returned home shattered after embracing the barbarity he witnessed around him. Haunted by his experiences overseas, he began a 15 year odyssey wrestling with mental health, purpose, and faith, that eventually drove him to volunteer for another combat tour in the deadliest city of the Iraq WarRamadi. In his memoir, Sledge vividly captures the reality of the men and women who learn to fight without remorse, love each other without restraint, and suffer the high cost of returning to a country that no longer feels like home. ';In life or war, you'll die a coward by refusing to live and act selflessly. Or you can kill your inner cowardice for something greater to emerge. But either way, a coward dies.' -Benjamin Sledge

From Mark Bowden, the preeminent chronicler of our military and special forces, comes "The Finish," a gripping account of the hunt for Osama bin Laden. With access to key sources, Bowden takes us inside the rooms where decisions were made and on the ground where the action unfolded. After masterminding the attacks of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden managed to vanish. Over the next ten years, as Bowden shows, America found that its war with al Qaeda--a scattered group of individuals who were almost impossible to track--demanded an innovative approach. Step by step, Bowden describes the development of a new tactical strategy to fight this war--the fusion of intel from various agencies and on-the-ground special ops. After thousands of special forces missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the right weapon to go after bin Laden had finally evolved. By Spring 2011, intelligence pointed to a compound in Abbottabad; it was estimated that there was a 50/50 chance that Osama was there. Bowden shows how three strategies were mooted: a drone strike, a precision bombing, or an assault by Navy SEALs. In the end, the President had to make the final decision. It was time for the finish.

The “first” Afghan War, a CIA war in response to 9/11, was directed by the CIA Station Chief in Islamabad. It put Hamid Karzai in power in 88 days. “If you want an insider’s account of the first American-Afghan War, you can’t do better than this…Important reading to understand where we are today” (Library Journal).From his preparation of the original, post-9/11 war plan, approved by President Bush, through to “final” fleeting victory, Robert Grenier relates the tale of the “southern campaign,” which drove al-Qa’ida and the Taliban from Kandahar, its capital, in an astonishing eighty-eight days. “With his ringside seat as the senior agency official stationed closest to Afghanistan, Grenier is able to describe meeting by meeting, sometimes phone call after phone call, how events unfolded” (The New York Times). In his gripping account, we meet: General Tommy Franks, who bridles at CIA control of “his” war; General “Jafar Amin,” a gruff Pakistani intelligence officer who saves Grenier from committing career suicide; Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s brilliant ambassador to the US, who tries to warn her government of the al-Qa’ida threat; and Hamid Karzai, the puzzling anti-Taliban insurgent, a man with elements of greatness, petulance, and moods. With suspense and insight, Grenier details his very personal struggles and triumphs. 88 Days to Kandahar is “an action-packed tale, rich in implication, of the post-9/11 race to unseat the Taliban and rout al-Qaida in Afghanistan” (Kirkus Reviews).

This is a philosophical treatise on war written by an Oxford grad who served in Afghanistan.

Als die NATO-Truppen im Jahr 2021 aus Afghanistan abzogen, überließen sie das Land seinem Schicksal. Ähnliches vollbrachte die UdSSR mehrere Jahrzehnte zuvor. Zwischen 1979 und 1989 intervenierte sie mit über 600.000 Soldaten in Afghanistan, konnte es aber dauerhaft nicht befrieden, was schließlich zum Abzug sowie zum Sturz der damaligen Regierung führte. Den längsten Krieg der sowjetischen Geschichte bezahlten circa 15.000 UdSSR-Bürger mit dem Leben. Davon ausgehend untersucht die Studie auf Grundlage von selbst erhobenen lebensgeschichtlichen Interviews, wie sich ehemalige sowjetische Kriegsteilnehmer in Russland heute an den Krieg erinnern, welche Bedeutung sie ihm beimessen und sie als Gruppe versuchen, Anerkennung für ihren Einsatz von der russischen Regierung und der Gesellschaft zu erhalten.

A searing indictment of how Afghan elites and the Western powers pulled the rug on the Afghan people, abandoning them to their fate.

Kabul war einst als Stadt der blühenden Gärten berühmt. Und was gewesen ist, kann wieder sein, schrieb der Politikwissenschaftler Ekkehart Krippendorff. Diesem Motto folgend reflektieren rund 20 Künstler*innen aus Afghanistan, Kasachstan, dem Iran, der Türkei, den USA und der Schweiz über ein anderes Kabul, ohne die vergangenen und aktuellen Krisen auszublenden.Ob mit lokalem Ortsbezug oder ausgehend von Intuition und Vorstellungskraft - der Band versammelt neu geschaffene Kunstwerke, die über den afghanischen Garten als Mikrokosmos der ganzen Welt reflektieren. Er enthält das Leben der Menschen mit den Tieren und Pflanzen, in all seinen Wundern und all seiner Schönheit. Beiträge zu den Gärten Kabuls, dem Garten als Sinnbild für Großzügigkeit und Freundschaft und der Geschichte eines privaten Gartens unweit Teherans erweitern die zukunftsweisende Schau.

The first English-language book to examine the crucial part air power played in the Soviet-Afghan War.The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan was fought as much in the air as on the ground. From the high-level bombing raids that blasted rebel-held mountain valleys, to the Mi-24 helicopter gunships and Su-25 jets that accompanied every substantial army operation, Soviet control of the air was a crucial battlefield asset. Vital to every aspect of its operations, Mi-8 helicopters ferried supplies to remote mountain-top observation points and took the bodies of fallen soldiers on their last journey home in An12 'Black Tulips'. But this was not a wholly one-sided conflict. Even before the Afghan rebels began to acquire man-portable surface-to-air missiles such as the controversial US 'Stinger,' they aggressively and imaginatively adapted. They learnt new techniques of camouflage and deception, set up ambushes against low-level attacks, and even launched daring raids on airbases to destroy aircraft on the ground.Featuring information previously unknown in the West, such as the Soviets' combat-testing of Yak-38 'Forger' naval jump jets, Soviet-expert Mark Galeotti examines the rebel, Kabul government and the Soviet operation in Afghanistan, drawing deeply on Western and Russian sources, and including after-action analyses from the Soviet military. Using maps, battlescenes and detailed 'Bird's Eye Views', he paints a comprehensive picture of the air war and describes how, arguably, it was Soviet air power that made the difference between defeat for Moscow and the subsequent stalemate that they decided to disengage from.

In 2021, the British Army's 20-year engagement in Afghanistan ended. The Paras had been involved since the earliest days of conflict. In 2008, 2 and 3 Paras were deployed to Afghanistan, fighting the Taliban. With over 200 photos, this book takes the reader on a visual journey, showing the soldiers, their equipment, weapons and vehicles.

Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Australia and Canada joined the U.S. and other Western allies in attacking al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan. In the book, a stellar group of academic and political experts explore the Canadian and Australian experiences in Afghanistan.

After the repatriation of the first four Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, Canadians have lined the overpasses of the Highway of Heroes to show their support, grief, and pride in our fallen champions.

Elite sniper Jody Mitic loved being a soldier. His raw, candid, and engrossing memoir follows his personal journey into the Canadian military, through sniper training, and firefights in Afghanistan, culminating on the fateful night when he stepped on a landmine and lost both of his legs below the knees. A twenty-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, Jody Mitic served as a Master Corporal and Sniper Team Leader on three active tours of duty over the course of seven years. Known for his deadly marksmanship, his fearlessness in the face of danger, and his "never quit" attitude, he was a key player on the front in Afghanistan. As a sniper, he secured strongholds from rooftops, engaged in perilous ground combat, and joined classified night operations to sniff out the enemy. One day in 2007, when he was on a mission in a small Afghan village, he stepped on a landmine and the course of his life was forever changed.

Uncommon Valor from Dwight Jon Zimmerman and John D. Gresham presents a fascinating look at six of our bravest soldiers and the highest military decoration awarded in this country.Since the Vietnam War ended in 1973, the Medal of Honor, our nation's highest award for valor, has been presented to only ten men for their actions "above and beyond the call of duty." Eight of the ten were young men who fought in the current war in Iraq, in Afghanistan, or both.Uncommon Valor answers the searing question of who these young soldiers were, and dramatically details why they found themselves in life-or-death situations, and how they responded. This book also provides a comprehensive history of the Medal of Honor-one marred by controversies, scandals, and theft.Using an extraordinary range of sources, including interviews with family members and friends, teammates and superiors in the military, personal letters, blogs posted within hours of events, personal and official videos, and newly declassified documents, Uncommon Valor is a compelling and important work that recounts incredible acts of heroism and lays bare the ultimate sacrifice of our bravest soldiers.

Inspired by Kabul, Afghanistan's first library bus and coloured by family memories, a touching snapshot of one innovative way girls received education in a country disrupted by war

War Comes to Garmser offers a fresh, original perspective on the war in Afghanistan, one that will redefine how we look at Afghanistan and at modern war in general. The author, who spent nearly two years in Garmser, a community in war-torn Helmand province, tells the story of this one small place through the jihad, the rise and fall of Taliban regimes, and American and British surge. Based on his conversations with hundreds of Afghans, including government officials, tribal leaders, religious leaders, and over forty Taliban, and drawing on extensive primary source material, Malkasian takes readers into the world of the Afghans.

This book examines the reconstruction of Afghanistan's economy during the US and international occupation of the country between 2001 and 2021. Applying an institutionalist framework and based on extensive empirical data, it focuses on resource allocation by private individuals in manufacturing activities. As such, market-oriented policy adopted in this period is analysed to highlight its suitability in such a context for achieving relatively better and more productive resource allocation.The book underscores 'socially contingent knowledge' and its role in private resource allocation where the private sector's involvement is fledgling, bringing out the limitations and possibilities that this feature entails. It raises important questions and deals with problems that are relevant to contemporary debates in economics and political economy of development.

Written by a renowned expert in modern conflicts, this fully illustrated book provides an examination of ground warfare over the past 20 years and looks ahead to the future.

A story of courage, perseverance, and patriotism behind the 75th Ranger Regiment's rescue mission following one of the deadliest Special Ops incidents in Afghanistan-a grueling search for twelve Navy SEAL casualties and eight downed Night Stalkers . . . but just one lone survivorOn June 28th, 2005, a four-man Navy SEAL reconnaissance team under Operation Red Wings was ambushed in northeastern Afghanistan-as depicted in the book and film Lone Survivor. A quick reaction force was dispatched. Turbine 33, carrying eight Navy SEALs and eight members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, was struck by a rocket propelled grenade-careening the dual rotor Chinook toward the rugged peak of Sawtalo Sar.The result was the single deadliest incident in Special Operations history at the time.Commanders called on the largest element of US Special Forces, the 75th Ranger Regiment. The rescue mission: Operation Red Wings II.Author Tony Brooks gives a first-hand account of the daring recovery of Turbine 33 and the subsequent search for the remaining compromised Navy SEAL recon team-one of whom was Marcus Luttrell, the lone survivor. The Rangers were up against lack of intel, treacherous terrain, violent weather, and an enemy that was raised to fight.Tony Brooks lived-and many of his fellow Rangers died-by the axiom, "Leave No Man Behind." He is the first to tell the story other books and films have omitted, one of overcoming overwhelming odds to accomplish a mission: to bring every American soldier home.

Former Force Recon Marine Chad Robichaux details the incredible rescue missions that evacuated not only his long-time friend and interpreter, Aziz, but also more than 17,000 Afghans and allies who were left in the grip of the Taliban's violent regime as the United States military withdrew from Afghanistan.

Five minutes is not a long time, especially if your life depends on something happening. With a tenuous grip on life, the doctor assured Jack that if he could stay awake for five more minutes, he would live. As an Army infantryman, Jack Zimmerman stepped on an IED while on patrol. He survived, but he was not the same. He went from a healthy young man with a bright future to a man with no legs and severely damaged arms. "Five Minutes: 300 Seconds That Changed My Life" is the account of how Jack rebuilt his life. He knew, waking up in an Army hospital in San Antonio several days later, that everything was going to be much different than what he anticipated. With a commitment to define and shape his life into the best new version possible, he built on the attitudes and actions that reveal wisdom far beyond what you would expect from such a young age. The principles and truths that allowed Jack to rebuild his life are described with stunning clarity, and the good news is that they apply to everyone, not just those wounded in combat. You will appreciate the sacrifice made by this soldier. You will find yourself in his struggles. You will discover the ability within yourself to turn yourself into the best version of you possible. Friend and family provided one of the greatest resources for Jack. He was wounded two weeks after getting engaged, and his future wife was with him every day in the hospital, through all the rehab, and now as a supportive wife. A bonus is a chapter by Megan to provide the wife's perspective.

Mahmoud's passion for his wife, Fereiba, a schoolteacher, is greater than any love she's ever known. But their happy, middle-class world implodes when their country is engulfed in war and the Taliban rises to power.When Mahmoud becomes a target of the new fundamentalist regime and is murdered, his widow is forced to flee Kabul with their three children. Fereiba has one hope to survive: she must find a way to reach her sister's family in England. With forged papers and help from kind strangers they meet along the way, Fereiba manages to smuggle them as far as Greece. But in a busy market square, their fate takes a frightening turn when her teenage son, Saleem, becomes separated from the rest of the family.Faced with an impossible choice, Fereiba pushes on with her daughter and baby, while Saleem falls into the shadowy underground network of undocumented Afghans who haunt the streets of Europe's capitals. Across the continent Fereiba and Saleem struggle to reunite, exhausted but undefeated, and ultimately find a place where they can be a family again.