The Wrong Enemy by Carlotta Gall

The Wrong Enemy

America in Afghanistan, 2001–2014

Carlotta Gall

HarperCollins · Print & ebook · April 14, 2015

A journalist with deep knowledge of the region provides &#8220an enthralling and largely firsthand account of the war in Afghanistan&#8221 (Financial Times).

Buy on Amazon

We earn from qualifying purchases.

Who it’s for
A firsthand account pairs war’s human costs with a sharp look at the forces behind it.
Genres
Afghan War (2001-), Terrorism & Counterterrorism, Middle Eastern History
Published
HarperCollins, April 14, 2015

About this book

A journalist with deep knowledge of the region provides &#8220an enthralling and largely firsthand account of the war in Afghanistan&#8221 (Financial Times). Few reporters know as much about Afghanistan as Carlotta Gall. She was there in the 1990s after the Russians were driven out. She witnessed the early flourishing of radical Islam, imported from abroad, which caused so much local suffering.

Continue reading

She was there right after 9/11, when US special forces helped the Northern Alliance drive the Taliban out of the north and then the south, fighting pitched battles and causing their enemies to flee underground and into Pakistan. Gall knows just how much this war has cost the Afghan people—and just how much damage can be traced to Pakistan and its duplicitous government and intelligence forces. Combining searing personal accounts of battles and betrayals with moving portraits of the ordinary Afghans who were caught up in the conflict for more than a decade, The Wrong Enemy is a sweeping account of a war brought by American leaders against an enemy they barely understood and could not truly engage.

War, Seen Closely

A firsthand account pairs war’s human costs with a sharp look at the forces behind it.

Come here for

  • Personal accounts of battles and betrayals
  • Portraits of Afghans caught in a long conflict

Expect

  • Reporting shaped by the author’s years in Afghanistan
  • A sweeping view of a war and the decisions behind it

Where it sits

Afghan War (2001-)100%
Terrorism & Counterterrorism22%
Middle Eastern History18%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Nuclear Warfare
  • Vietnam War History
  • World War II History
  • U.S. Military History
Show all 8 publisher categories
  • Iraq War (2003-2011)
  • Afghan War (2001-)
  • Napoleonic Wars
  • Civil Wars
Authors
Carlotta Gall
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published
April 14, 2015
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Nuclear Warfare