The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan

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Random House Publishing Group, Feb 21, 2012 - History - 352 pages

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

In this definitive account of the conflict, acclaimed war correspondent and bestselling author Bing West provides a practical way out of Afghanistan. Drawing on his expertise as both a combat-hardened Marine and a former assistant secretary of defense, West has written a tour de force narrative, rich with vivid characters and gritty combat, which shows the consequences when strategic theory meets tactical reality. Having embedded with dozens of frontline units over the past three years, he takes the reader on a battlefield journey from the mountains in the north to the opium fields in the south. A fighter who understands strategy, West builds the case for changing course. His conclusion is sure to provoke debate: remove most of the troops from Afghanistan, stop spending billions on the dream of a modern democracy, and insist the Afghans fight their own battles. Bing West’s book is a page-turner about brave men and cunning enemies that examines our realistic choices as a nation.

 

Contents

Pacifying the Capillary Valleys
3
They Always Held the High Ground
31
The Counterinsurgency Effect
50
Flesh and Blood
72
Finest Stand
80
The Bravest Warrior
93
1500Mile Sanctuary
113
THE SOUTH
129
Petraeus Takes Command
224
The Way Out
247
Acknowledgments
263
ISAF COIN Guidance
279
Bibliography
297
xi
303
ཤཱ ཌ ཋ སྔ ཆེ ར 2
304
50
305

A Profession Not a Creed
131
How to Clear a District
151
Limits of Success
169
Circular Strategy
188
Setback
209
72
306
80
307
113
308
151
311
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About the author (2012)

Bing West’s bestselling books have won the Veterans of Foreign Wars News Media Award, the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award for nonfiction, the Andrew J. Goodpaster Prize for military scholarship, the Colby Award for military nonfiction, and the Marine Corps University Foundation’s Major General John H. Russell Leadership Award. West, a Marine combat infantryman, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former assistant secretary of defense.

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