Lions Of Kandahar

“A raw and authentic war story about untamed Green Berets in action.”—Dalton Fury, New York Times bestselling author of Kill Bin Laden Southern Afghanistan was slipping away. That was clear to then-Captain Rusty Bradley as he began his third tour of duty there in 2006. The Taliban and their allies were infiltrating everywhere, poised to reclaim Kandahar Province, their strategically vital onetime capital. To stop them, the NATO coalition launched Operation Medusa, the largest offensive in its history. Dispatched as a diversionary force in support of the main coalition attack, Bradley’s Special Forces A-team watched as the NATO force was quickly engulfed in a vicious counterattack. Key to relieving it was possession of Sperwan Ghar, a modest patch of high ground. Bradley’s small detachment assaulted the hill and, in the midst of a savage and unforgettable firefight, soon learned they were facing nearly a thousand seasoned fighters. Now Bradley recounts the whole remarkable story as it actually happened and brings to life the men who impossibly won the day—Americans and Afghans alike—each unique, all indelible in their everyday exercise of extraordinary heroism. Praise for Lions of Kandahar “A powerful and gripping account of a battle that helped shape the war in Afghanistan . . . With crisp writing and page-turning action, Lions of Kandahar is one of the best books written about the conflict.”—Mitch Weiss, Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist and co-author of Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War “One of the most important documents to emerge from the war in Afghanistan.”—The Seattle Times “Powerful . . . a riveting account of a strategic battle that doesn’t glorify war or focus on heroic deeds . . . Make room on your military bookshelf for Lions of Kandahar.”—San Antonio Express-News “Bradley takes the reader into battle.”—Time

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The first rounds slammed into the windshield, and I winced. The bulletproof glass did its job, otherwise my brains would have been blown all over the truck. The roar of machine guns was deafening, overwhelming. #2 As we desperately tried to push up the hill, we radioed back to the tactical operations center for more information. They were watching a live feed from a Predator drone flying over the battlefield that revealed a drastically different scenario than we had been briefed on. We were in very serious trouble.

During two decades of fighting in Afghanistan, U.S. service members confronted numerous challenges in their mission to secure the country from the threat of al-Qaeda and the Taliban and assist in rebuilding efforts. Because the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan occurred simultaneously, much of the American public conflated them or failed to notice the Afghanistan War; and most of the war's archival material remains classified and closed to civilian researchers. Drawing on interviews and letters home, this book relates the Afghanistan War through the experiences of American troops, with firsthand accounts of both combat and humanitarian operations, the environment, living conditions and interactions with the locals.

A history of the war in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2020. The work follows a narrative format to go through the 2001 US invasion, the state-building of 2002-2005, the Taliban offensive of 2006, the US surge of 2009-2011, the subsequent drawdown, and the peace talks of 2019-2020

How does the Taliban wage war? How has its war changed over time? Firstly, the movement's extraordinary military operation relies on financial backing. This volume analyses such funding. The Taliban's external sources of support include foreign governments and non-state groups, both of which have affected the Taliban's military campaigns and internal politics. Secondly, this is the first full-length study of the Taliban to acknowledge and discuss in detail the movement's polycentric character. Here not only the Quetta Shura, but also the Haqqani Network and the Taliban's other centers of power, are afforded the attention they deserve. The Taliban at War is based on extensive field research, including hundreds of interviews with Taliban members at all levels of the organization, community elders in Taliban-controlled areas, and other sources. It covers the Taliban insurgency from its first manifestations in 2002 up to the end of 2015. The five-month Battle of Kunduz epitomized the ongoing transition of the Taliban from an insurgent group to a more conventional military force, intent on fighting a protracted civil war. In this latest book, renowned Afghanistan expert Antonio Giustozzi rounds off his twenty years of studying the Taliban with an authoritative study detailing the evolution of its formidable military machine.

The director of the American-Afghan war describes how he orchestrated the defeat of the Taliban in the region by forging separate alliances with warlords, Taliban dissidents, and the Pakistani intelligence service.

Within hours of the September 11 attacks, Sean M. Maloney deciphered that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda were the aggressors behind the despicable act. A war in Afghanistan then was inevitable. As a military historian, Maloney was determined to go there to study and record the events for posterity, if for no other reason than the education of his future students at Canada's Royal Military College. What resulted is an in-depth and up-close look at the planning stages, deployment, and aftermath of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. In Enduring the Freedom, Maloney presents a rare on-the-spot view from such important locations as Kabul, Bagram, and Kandahar. He describes the American-led intervention in Afghanistan and the conduct of the war through early 2003, then discusses the events of 2003 from the three locales in detail. Some critics contend that the war in Afghanistan is another Vietnam. Maloney rebuts that appraisal, pointing out that as opposed to the vague language of the Vietnam era, American objectives were clearly stated for Afghanistan. Those objectives were: to destroy al Qaeda's networks, training camps, resources, and communication systems; to destroy any governmental entity providing support or sanctuary to al Qaeda; and to undertake reconstruction efforts to ensure international terrorists can never again use the country as a base. The first objective has more or less been achieved. How to accomplish the last two is still widely debated, and Maloney offers some insightful thoughts and opinions. Finally, he offers educated advice going forward in the hopeful completion of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The eyes of the world

Illuminating a region to which America will be inextricably bound for some time to come, "New Yorker" staff writer Anderson offers an unprecedented look into the forces that shape the Afghan conflict and the players who may threaten Afghanistan's future.

The story of Pylochan, or the Barefooted, is that of a courageous people of Kandahar whose story has never been told before. They were given the name Pylochan by the Farsi-speaking people as they attacked the enemy camps during the night barefooted so as not to make a sound. These young warriors gave hope to the oppressed people of Kandahar by the Persian Empire of independence and victory. This book tells the story of some of the Pylochan that lived many years after the independence from Persian Empire.

In Afghanistan, British secret servicewoman Marcie Brown, posing as the third wife of one of ISAF’s most trusted operatives, is killed in a drone strike. Or at least, that’s what the official report states. Deep inside enemy territory, what remains of her body is deemed irrecoverable. Seven thousand miles away, in Britain, her grieving husband, MI7 Officer Nicholas Fleming, joins a police investigation which stumbles onto an Islamist plot to bomb central London. Handed responsibility for the counter-terrorism initiative, he uncovers evidence that one of the bombers is his wife. By degrees, the utterly unbelievable becomes plausible and, at last, undeniable. Questions such as what really happened to her become academic as love and duty are rendered incompatible. To save the lives of hundreds of innocent people, Fleming must order the destruction of the only woman he has ever loved. To make matters worse, there is evidence that she is slowly recovering her memory … The Girl From Kandahar is a love story played out on both sides of the War on Terror. Its detailed understanding of Pashtun culture and Islam is matched by a corresponding recognition of Western motives and concerns. Above all, it deals with the human side of the conflict: families split, loved ones lost, communities broken, distrust, hostility, grief. Yet its prognosis is far from bleak. In the end, it may be that no ideology is as powerful as the simple truth that our best hope lies in each other.

The story of the British commander who led a three-hundred-mile march from Kabul to Kandahar and became the toast of Victorian England. This book examines the role of Frederick Roberts in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, culminating in his famous march in 1880 with ten thousand British and Indian soldiers, covering three hundred miles in twenty-three days, from Kabul to Kandahar to defeat the Afghan army of Ayub Khan, pretender to the Amirship of Kabul. The march made Roberts one of late Victorian England’s great military heroes, partly because of the achievement itself, partly because the victory restored British prestige after defeat, and finally because of Roberts’ astute use of the press to puff his victory. This overcame the earlier damage done to his reputation by the political storm that followed his hanging of over eighty Afghans in revenge for the massacre of a British envoy and his escort. It enabled the liberal Viceroy of India, Lord Ripon, to extract his forces from an Afghan imbroglio with prestige restored and an emir on the Afghan throne who for thirty-nine years maintained friendship with British India. Roberts (or Bobs as he was known) subsequently advanced to command the Indian Army, working closely with future viceroys to influence Indian defense policy on the North-West Frontier, and being hymned by Rudyard Kipling, poet of empire. His bestselling autobiography, Forty-One Years in India, established his image before the British public and he remains one of Britain’s best known, if least understood, military figures

The Kandahar Campaign was the last phase of the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-80). It began in late June 1880, when Ayub Khan, the governor of Herat, led an Afghan force toward Kandahar, then occupied by an Anglo-Indian army. A column of troops under Brigadier General George Burrows was sent from Kandahar to try to intercept Ayub Khan's force but was defeated in a fierce battle at Maiwand on July 27. The remnants of the British force struggled back to Kandahar, followed by Ayub Khan, who laid siege to the city. A column of approximately 10,000 soldiers under the command of Lieutenant General Frederick Roberts then was sent from Kabul to relieve the city. After marching some 480 kilometers to reach Kandahar, Roberts decisively defeated Ayub Khan at Baba Wali on September 1, thereby bringing the war to an end. The new Liberal government of Prime Minister William Gladstone, formed in April 1880, already had decided to terminate the war and had ordered the withdrawal to India of all British troops in Afghanistan, which the Kandahar Campaign delayed by some months. Personal Records of the Kandahar Campaign, by Officers Engaged Therein is a compilation of letters by officers serving with the armies of General Burrows and General Roberts, assembled by Waller Ashe, an author and retired British army major. The documents provide extensive and detailed accounts from the British perspective of this final phase of the war. Waller does not give the names of the men who wrote the letters, some of which may have been fictionalized or embellished by the compiler. The book contains an introduction by Ashe that summarizes the history of Afghanistan and of the two Anglo-Afghan wars of the 19th century. Ashe was an enthusiast for the British Empire and British military glory. He was also co-editor of The Story of the Zulu Campaign, published in 1880 and likewise compiled from the letters of officers who served in the campaign.

Patrick Robinson, coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Lone Survivor and “preeminent writer of modern naval fiction” (The Florida Times Union) shares the gripping untold story of Mohammed Gulab, the Afghani warrior who defied the Taliban and saved the life of American hero and Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell. Bestselling author Patrick Robinson helped Marcus Luttrell bring his harrowing story of survival to the page and the big screen with Lone Survivor. But the Afghani man who saved his life was always shrouded in mystery. Now, with The Lion of Sabray, Robinson reveals the amazing backstory of Mohammed Gulab—the brave man who forever changed the course of life for his Afghani family, his village, and himself when he discovered Luttrell badly injured and barely conscious on a mountainside in the Hindu Kush just hours after the firefight that killed the rest of Luttrell’s team. Operating under the 2,000-year-old principles of Pashtunwali—the tribal honor code that guided his life—Gulab refused to turn Luttrell over to the Taliban forces that were hunting him, believing it was his obligation to protect and care for the American soldier. Because Gulab was a celebrated Mujahedeen field commander and machine-gunner who beat back the Soviets as a teenager, the Taliban were wary enough that they didn’t simply storm the village and take Luttrell, which gave Gulab time to orchestrate his rescue. In addition to Gulab’s brave story, The Lion of Sabray cinematically reveals previously unknown details of Luttrell’s rescue by American forces—which were only recently declassified—and sheds light on the ramifications for Gulab, his family, and his community. Going beyond both the book and the movie versions of Lone Survivor, The Lion of Sabray is a must-read for anyone who wants to know more about the brave man who helped the Lone Survivor make it home.

"Our Mission was the people of Kandahar and keeping the Taliban from interfering with rebuilding. When we did use force, we had to be discriminate Killing innocent civilians would be mission failure. I had the A-Team ad could not make it work with lesser men and women." - Lieutenant-Colonel rob Walker, Commanding Officer, 2RCR Battlegroup "Our job is to create a functional government that earns the respect of its population. The people of Kandahar are not asking for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They want Canada's peace, order, and good government. We're getting there. But it takes time, Thankfully Afghans are more patient than people back home." - Gavin Buchan, Director, Foreign Affairs, Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, 2006-07 "My soliders got to know every inch of Zharey District and its people. It was our back-yard. We knew it better than the Taliban, especially the foreign fighters. People learned to trust us and started staying in their homes while we rant he enemy out of town." - Major David Quick, India Company

A collection of eighteen essays by journalists while on foreign war-time assignment about their experiences with food and the people who shared it.

Life is a series of stories woven together by choices, and sometimes experiences are put together by sheer chance and circumstance. Outcomes may be exactly as planned, but sometimes there is simply no real way of knowing what you've gotten into. Compelled by an inner conviction to protect and serve their country in a time of war and driven by deliberate decisions to join the fi ght against terrorism in ground-pounding combat as United States Army infantrymen, the soldiers of Third Platoon Charlie Company had no idea exactly what they were getting into and even less where this adventure would take them. Deeply imbedded in the Taliban-infested grape fi elds of the Panjwei'i District of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, the birthplace of the Taliban and less than one hundred miles from the border of Pakistan, follow the dramatic encounters of daily combat where it's not about playing soldier. It's about being a warrior . . . a survivor. What We Got Into tells the story about how they live out the choice they made to become infantry combat soldiers. As you read, you'll journey with them as they fi nd brotherhood in the face of isolation, courage in the face of fear, and strength in the face of pain and ultimate sacrifi ce. You will renew your appreciation for the fact that freedom is paid for at a high price by those willing to fi ght to protect others . . . those who are willing to foot the bill. This story is a rare look through the insider's eyes at the catastrophic collision of choice, circumstance, and chance that rocked the lives of a whole platoon in the wake of a tragic and highly publicized suicide of one of their own and the unprecedented trials as military justice unfolds for the combatseasoned and highly decorated platoon charged in connection with his death. You will struggle with them as they fi ght to heal from the scars of war; to fi nd and rebuild their lives beyond their calling as soldiers. What will it take for them to reclaim their lives which have been forever changed by a series of stories woven together? Find out the truth of what they really got into. __________________________________________________ "What We Got Into" is a powerful account, from a soldiers perspective, of the war in Afghanistan against a cowardly enemy that you cannot see. It is brutal, emotional and enlightening. Prepare yourself for how these men fi ght a war where the US is the only ones restricted by any rules. MAJ Rusty Bradley Author, The Lions of Kandahar Westenrieder writes of his dangerous military career and of the soldiers under his command in a style that is unpretentious and unadorned, representative of the young men whose mission, defeating the enemy in the name freedom, is as transparent as it is precise A most readable, informative, and insightful book. Stephen J. Weiss, formerly of the 36th Texas' Infantry Division Commandeur, French Legion d' Honneur Author, Second Chance "What We Got Into" offers a gritty look into today's warriors as they struggle with the challenges of the modern day battlefi eld. Westenrieder describes an unadulterated and accurate portrayal of today's combat zones like you have never read before. J.R. Salzman, the author of military blog Lumberjack In A Desert at www.jrsalzman.com