Search Results for: Afghanistan

What the War Did to Andy

Longreads Pick

In the Air Force special ops, my friend Andy Kubik was the best of the best, a true American hero. As much as any one man, he was responsible for breaking the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan. But now, back at home, he’s fighting just to stay sane.

Source: Men’s Journal
Published: Mar 24, 2010
Length: 26 minutes (6,601 words)

The Professor of War

Longreads Pick

At 57, General David Petraeus has revolutionized the way America fights its wars, starting with the surge in Iraq and continuing into his current command, with responsibility for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Yemen.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: May 1, 2010
Length: 45 minutes (11,270 words)

A Dagger to the CIA

Longreads Pick

On December 30, in one of the deadliest attacks in CIA history, an Al Qaeda double agent schemed his way onto a U.S. base in Afghanistan and blew himself into the next life, taking seven Americans with him. How could this have happened?

Source: GQ
Published: Apr 1, 2010
Length: 14 minutes (3,642 words)

Tycoon, Contractor, Soldier, Spy

Longreads Pick

Erik Prince, recently outed as a participant in a C.I.A. assassination program, has gained notoriety as head of the military-contracting juggernaut Blackwater, a company dogged by a grand-jury investigation, bribery accusations, and the voluntary-manslaughter trial of five ex-employees, set for next month. Lashing back at his critics, the wealthy former navy seal takes the author inside his operation in the U.S. and Afghanistan, revealing the role he’s been playing in America’s war on terror.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Jan 1, 2010
Length: 23 minutes (5,995 words)

Karzai’s Paranoid World

Longreads Pick

As Afghanistan’s president is inaugurated for his second term, author Christina Lamb, his former neighbor, on his transformation from an affable bon vivant to a paranoid shut-in.

Source: The Daily Beast
Published: Nov 18, 2009
Length: 32 minutes (8,066 words)

Stanley McChrystal’s Long War

Longreads Pick

Success takes time, but how much time does Stanley McChrystal have? The war in Afghanistan is now in its ninth year. The Taliban, measured by the number of their attacks, are stronger than at any time since the Americans toppled their government at the end of 2001. American soldiers and Marines are dying at a faster rate than ever before. Polls in the United States show that opposition to the war is growing steadily.

Published: Oct 14, 2009
Length: 40 minutes (10,208 words)

An Inconvenient Truth Teller

Longreads Pick

From health-care reform to Afghanistan, Joe Biden has bucked Obama—as only a good Veep can.

Source: Newsweek
Published: Oct 10, 2009
Length: 15 minutes (3,905 words)

Dear President Bush,

Longreads Pick

Americans want, and need, to move on from the debate over torture in Iraq and Afghanistan and close this tragic chapter in our nation’s history. An open letter to President George W. Bush

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Oct 1, 2009
Length: 35 minutes (8,752 words)

Karzai in His Labyrinth

Longreads Pick

Hamid Karzai applauds himself for his big-tent, forgive-and-forget approach. But his opponents are thrashing him for it. “If the goal is to consolidate a group of drug dealers as the government of Afghanistan so that you have relative peace, then what is the vision?”

Published: Aug 4, 2009
Length: 38 minutes (9,667 words)

Winning the Good War

Longreads Pick

Why Afghanistan is not Obama’s Vietnam.

Published: Jul 28, 2009
Length: 15 minutes (3,943 words)