Seth Jones - In the Graveyard of Empires - America's War in Afghanistan
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- Название:In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan
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In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация
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is a political history of Afghanistan in the “Age of Terror” from 2001 to 2009, exploring the fundamental tragedy of America’s longest war since Vietnam.
After a brief survey of the great empires in Afghanistan—the campaigns of Alexander the Great, the British in the era of Kipling, and the late Soviet Union—Seth G. Jones examines the central question of our own war: how did an insurgency develop? Following the September 11 attacks, the United States successfully overthrew the Taliban regime. It established security throughout the country—killing, capturing, or scattering most of al Qa’ida’s senior operatives—and Afghanistan finally began to emerge from more than two decades of struggle and conflict. But Jones argues that as early as 2001 planning for the Iraq War siphoned off resources and talented personnel, undermining the gains that had been made. After eight years, he says, the United States has managed to push al Qa’ida’s headquarters about one hundred miles across the border into Pakistan, the distance from New York to Philadelphia.
While observing the tense and often adversarial relationship between NATO allies in the Coalition, Jones—who has distinguished himself at RAND and was recently named by
as one of the “Best and Brightest” young policy experts—introduces us to key figures on both sides of the war. Harnessing important new research and integrating thousands of declassified government documents, Jones then analyzes the insurgency from a historical and structural point of view, showing how a rising drug trade, poor security forces, and pervasive corruption undermined the Karzai government, while Americans abandoned a successful strategy, failed to provide the necessary support, and allowed a growing sanctuary for insurgents in Pakistan to catalyze the Taliban resurgence.
Examining what has worked thus far—and what has not—this serious and important book underscores the challenges we face in stabilizing the country and explains where we went wrong and what we must do if the United States is to avoid the disastrous fate that has befallen many of the great world powers to enter the region. 12 maps and charts
From Publishers Weekly
Since 2001, RAND Corporation political scientist Jones (
) has been observing the reinvigorated insurgency in Afghanistan and weighing the potency of its threat to the country's future and American interests in the region. Jones finds the roots of the re-emergence in the expected areas: the deterioration of security after the ousting of the Taliban regime in 2002, the U.S.'s focus on Iraq as its foreign policy priority and Pakistan's role as a haven for insurgents. He revisits Afghan history, specifically the invasions by the British in the mid- and late-19th century and the Russians in the late-20th to rue how little the U.S. has learned from these two previous wars. He sheds light on why Pakistan—a consistent supporter of the Taliban—continues to be a key player in the region's future. Jones makes important arguments for the inclusion of local leaders, particularly in rural regions, but his diligent panorama of the situation fails to consider whether the war in Afghanistan is already lost.
Review
“A useful and generally lively account of what can go wrong when outsiders venture onto the Afghan landscape.” (
* )
“This is a serious work that should be factored in as a new policy in Afghanistan evolves.” (
* )
“Offers a valuable window onto how officials have understood the military campaign.” (
* )
“[An] excellent book.” (
* )
“How we got to where we are in Afghanistan.” (
* )
“[Zeroes] in on what went awry after America’s successful routing of the Taliban in late 2001.” (
* )
“A blueprint for winning in a region that has historically brought mighty armies to their knees.” (
* )
“Seth Jones . . . has an anthropologist’s feel for a foreign society, a historian’s intuition for long-term trends, and a novelist’s eye for the telling details that illuminate a much larger story. If you read just one book about the Taliban, terrorism, and the United States, this is the place to start.” (
* )
“A timely and important work, without peer in terms of both its scholarship and the author’s intimate knowledge of the country, the insurgency threatening it, and the challenges in defeating it.” (
* )
“A deeply researched and well-analyzed account of the failures of American policies in Afghanistan,
will be mandatory reading for policymakers from Washington to Kabul.” (
* )
“Seth Jones has combined forceful narrative with careful analysis, illustrating the causes of this deteriorating situation, and recommending sensible, feasible steps to reverse the escalating violence.” (
* )
“Seth G. Jones’s book provides a vivid sense of just how paltry and misguided the American effort has been.…
will help to show what might still be done to build something enduring in Afghanistan and finally allow the U.S. to go home.” (
* )
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27. Elizabeth Pond, Friendly Fire: The Near-Death of the Transatlantic Alliance Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2004), pp. 56–62; Laurent Cohen-Tanugi, An Alliance at Risk: The United States and Europe Since September 11 (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), p. 82.
28. Claire Trean, “La guerre contre l’Irak se fera sans le feu vert des Nations unies,” Le Monde, March 12, 2003; Luc de Barochez, “Alors que la date du prochain vote du Conseil de securité n’est pas encore fixée,” Le Figaro, March 11, 2003; “Paris rejetera une deuxième resolution au conseil de securité,” La Tribune, March 11, 2003, p. 4.
29. See, for example, the speech by Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to the German Bundestag, Berlin, December 14, 2005: “Speech by Foreign Minister Steinmeier in the German Bundestag” (Berlin: Federal Foreign Office, December 2005). Also see Chancellor Angela Merkel’s objections to the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay in Jens Tartler and Olaf Gersemann, “Merkel fordert Ende von Guantánamo,” Financial Times Deutschland, January 9, 2006.
30. Henry A. Kissinger, “Role Reversal and Alliance Realities,” Washington Post, February 10, 2003, p. A21.
31. Patrick E. Tyler, “Threats and Responses: Old Friends,” New York Times, February 12, 2003, p. A1.
32. Ivo H. Daalder, “The End of Atlanticism,” Survival, vol. 45, no. 2, Summer 2003, pp. 147–48. Also see Samuel F. Wells, “The Transatlantic Illness,” Wilson Quarterly, vol. XXVII, no. 1, Winter 2003, pp. 40–46; James B. Steinberg, “An Elective Partnership: Salvaging Transatlantic Relations,” Survival , vol. 45, no. 2, Summer 2003, pp. 113–46; Philip H. Gordon and Jeremy Shapiro, Allies at War: America, Europe, and the Crisis Over Iraq (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004), p. 2.
33. Eric Schmitt, “NATO Troops Will Relieve Americans in Fighting the Taliban,” New York Times, December 31, 2005, p. A3.
34. Jason Beattie, “5,000 British Troops to Root Out the Taliban,” The Evening Standard (London), September 13, 2005, p. 8.
35. Doug Saunders, “NATO Chief Defends Afghan Mission,” The Globe and Mail, March 7, 2006, p. A12.
36. Author interview with Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, October 27, 2007.
37. UK House of Commons Select Committee on Defence, Thirteenth Report (London: HMSC, 2007), para. 46.
38. Author interview with NATO official, NATO ISAF Headquarters, Kabul, Afghanistan, September 15, 2007.
39. Judy Dempsey and David S. Cloud, “Europeans Balking at New Afghan Role,” International Herald Tribune, September 14, 2005, p. 1.
40. UK House of Commons Select Committee on Defence, Thirteenth Report, para. 43.
41. German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Compagnia di San Paolo (Italy), Transatlantic Trends: Key Findings 2007 (Washington, DC: German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Compagnia di San Paolo, 2007), p. 33.
42. Author interview with General Markus Kneip, September 6, 2006.
43. John D. Banusiewicz, “National Caveats’ Among Key Topics at NATO Meeting,” American Forces Press Service, February 9, 2005.
44. Author interview with Ambassador David Sproule, January 10, 2007.
45. Author interviews with senior German military officials in Mazar-e-Sharif and Kunduz, September 6–7, 2006; September 2007.
46. Memorandum from General Barry R. McCaffrey (ret.) to Colonel Mike Meese and Colonel Cindy Jebb, United States Military Academy, “Trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan,” June 2006, p. 4.
47. Quoted in Hy S. Rothstein, Afghanistan and the Troubled Future of Unconventional Warfare (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2006), p. 111.
48. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Statement to the House Armed Services Committee, December 11, 2007.
49. Peter Spiegel, “Gates Says NATO Force Unable to Fight Guerrillas,” Los Angeles Times, January 16, 2008, p. A1.
50. David Galula, Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice (St. Petersburg, FL: Hailer Publishing, 2005), p. 77.
51. The clear, hold, and expand section draws extensively from Joseph D. Celeski, Operationalizing COIN, JSOU Report 05–2 (Hurlburt Field, FL: Joint Special Operations University, 2005).
52. Celeski, Operationalizing COIN.
53. Colonel Bruce Burda, Operation Enduring Freedom Lessons Learned (Hurlburt Field, FL: Air Force Special Operations Command, 2003).
54. Author interview with Western ambassador, Kabul, Afghanistan, September 13, 2007.
55. Author interviews with Canadian soldiers, Kandahar, Afghanistan, September 16–19, 2007. See also, for example, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, A Review of the Taliban and Fellow Travelers as a Movement: Concept Paper Updating PAG Joint Assessment of June 2006 (Kabul: United Nations, August 2007).
56. Author interview with senior NATO military official, Kandahar, Afghanistan, September 16, 2007.
57. Letter from Paddy Ashdown to Gordon Brown and David Miliband, December 2007.
58. Author interview with Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, October 27, 2007.
Chapter Fifteen
1. Rudyard Kipling, Verses, 1889–1896, vol. 11 (New York: Charles Scribner, 1899), p. 79.
2. “Enemy Assault on North OP in VIC BCP 213 Shkin,” U.S. After Action Report, September 22, 2005. I interviewed one of the U.S. officials present at Shkin that night (he wished to remain anonymous) on February 7 and February 11, 2007. I also interviewed nearly a dozen U.S. soldiers with similar reports along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
3. Author interview with senior officer, 82nd Airborne Division, March 7, 2008.
4. Quoted in Mohammad Yousaf and Mark Adkin, Afghanistan—The Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower (Havertown, PA: Casemate, 2001), p. 20.
5. PBS Frontline, “The Return of the Taliban,” Written, Produced, and Reported by Martin Smith, Airdate: October 3, 2006.
6. On U.S. aid to Pakistan, see C. Christine Fair and Peter Chalk, Fortifying Pakistan: The Role of U.S. Internal Security Assistance (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2006); Craig Cohen and Derek Chollet, “When $10 Billion Is Not Enough: Rethinking U.S. Strategy toward Pakistan,” Washington Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 2, Spring 2007, pp. 7–19.
7. David E. Sanger and David Rohde, “U.S. Pays Pakistan to Fight Terror, but Patrols Ebb,” New York Times, May 20, 2007, p. 1. There were a number of additional New York Times investigative pieces on the Coalition support funds. See, for example, David Rohde, Carlotta Gall, Eric Schmitt, and David E. Sanger, “U.S. Officials See Waste in Pakistan Aid,” New York Times, December 24, 2007, p. A1.
8. Author interview with Dov Zakheim, January 30, 2008.
9. On the capture of these al Qa’ida figures, see Pervez Musharraf, In the Line of Fire: A Memoir (New York: Free Press, 2006), pp. 222–63.
10. See, for example, Intikhab Amir, “Waziristan: No Man’s Land?” The Herald (Pakistan), vol. 37, no. 4, April 2006, pp. 74–79; Amir, “Whose Writ Is It Anyway?” The Herald (Pakistan), vol. 37, no. 4, April 2006, pp. 80–82; Iqbal Khattak, “40 Militants Killed in North Waziristan,” Daily Times (Pakistan), September 30, 2005.
11. On Operation Anaconda, see, for example, U.S. Air Force, Office of Lessons Learned (AF/XOL), Operation Anaconda: An Air Power Perspective (Washington, DC: Headquarters United States Air Force AF/XOL, February 2005); Paul L. Hastert, “Operation Anaconda: Perception Meets Reality in the Hills of Afghanistan,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, vol. 28, no. 1, January—February 2005, pp. 11—20; Sean Naylor, Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda (New York: Berkley Books, 2005).
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