by David Loyn
37 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program; December 13, 2012; https://fas.org/irp/congress/2014_rpt/ssci-rdi.pdf.
38 Treatment of Conflict Related Detainees in Afghan Custody; UNAMA; October 2011; https://unama.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/old_dnn/UNAMA/Documents/October10_%202011_UNAMA_Detention_Full-Report_ENG.pdf.
39 Interview by senior consultant for the Open Society Foundations, Rachel Reid. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/remaking-bagram-creation-afghan-internment-regime-and-divide-over-us-detention-power.
40 Author interview with Karzai.
41 Geo TV interview; October 23, 2011; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDFggTzQQLg.
42 Nordland, Rod; New York Times; November 5, 2011; https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/world/asia/us-general-fired-over-remarks-about-karzai.html.
43 Epstein, Susan B., and Kronstadt, K. Alan; Congressional Research Service; June 7, 2011.
44 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing; September 21, 2011.
45 GEO TV interview, quoted in Washington Post; September 23, 2011; https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pakistan-backed-attacks-on-american-targets-us-says/2011/09/22/gIQAf0q6oK_story.html.
46 Gall, C.; p191.
47 Chandrasekaran, Rajiv; Washington Post; May 14, 2012; https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/the-triage-commander-gen-john-allen-hastily-transforming-us-mission-in-afghanistan/2012/05/12/gIQAzbttKU_story.html.
48 Chandrasekaran, Rajiv; Washington Post; November 14 2012; https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/four-star-general-earned-obamas-trust-before-suffering-collateral-damage-from-petraeus-affair-8315554.html.
49 Cordesman, Anthony H.; Failing Transition: The New 1230 Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan; Center for Strategic and International Studies; August 5, 2013; https://www.csis.org/analysis/failing-transition-new-1230-report-progress-toward-security-and-stability-afghanistan.
50 March 27, 2009; https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-a-new-strategy-afghanistan-and-pakistan.
51 Cordesman; Failing Transition; 2013.
52 Published in accordance with section 1230 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110–181), amended.
53 For example: Cooper, Chester L., Corson, Judith E., Legere, Laurence J., Lockwood, David E., and Weller, Donald M.; The American Experience with Pacification in Vietnam, Vol. 2: Elements of Pacification; Institute for Defense Analysis; March 1972.
54 Cordesman; Failing Transition; 2013.
55 Upshur, William P., Roginski, Jonathan W., and Kilcullen, David J.; “Recognizing Systems in Afghanistan Lessons Learned and New Approaches to Operational Assessments”; Prism Vol. 3, No. 3; 6/12; Center for Complex Operations; https://cco.ndu.edu/Portals/96/Documents/prism/prism_3–3/prism3–3.pdf.
56 Ibid.
57 Ibid.
58 House Armed Services Committee hearing; February 27, 2013.
59 Kelley,; Kindle loc 984.
60 Sieff, Kevin; Washington Post; January 31, 2013; https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/departing-us-general-in-afghanistan-weighs-gains-and-uncertainty/2013/01/29/ab9764ea-6a3d-11e2–9a0b-db931670f35d_story.html.
61 Reuters; February 10, 2013; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-nato-command/natos-afghanistan-force-gets-new-u-s-commander-idUSBRE91902P20130210.
62 SIGAR; Corruption in Conflict; p50.
63 UNAMA; civilian casualty report; 2012.
CHAPTER 12: TRIPLE TRANSITION
1 This was the battle where Captain Lloyd Williams yelled, “Retreat? Hell, we just got here.”
2 Retired sergeant major Carlton Kent, quoted by Dan Lamothe; Washington Post; June 9, 2014; https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/06/09/the-untimely-search-for-a-new-coalition-commander-in-afghanistan.
3 Author interview with Dunford.
4 Senate Armed Services Committee; April 16, 2013.
5 BBC; June 12, 2013; author interview; https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22867205.
6 https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/speech/2014/12/04/london-conference-on-afghanistan-2014.
7 In tactical terms this might mean that infantry on the ground were the “supported” force, their air cover would be “supporting.”
8 Leiby, Richard; Washington Post; February 25, 2013; https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/karzai-aide-details-alleged-abuse-by-us-special-forces/2013/02/25/d59f3f1c-7f53–11e2–8074-b26a871b165a_story.html.
9 Ibid.
10 Aikins, Matthieu; “The A-Team Killings”; Rolling Stone; November 6, 2013; https://www.rollingstone.com/interactive/feature-a-team-killings-afghanistan-special-forces/; and “Mapping Allegations of an American War Crime”; Nation; June 21, 2013; https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/wardak-investigation/.
11 Press briefing U.S. embassy in Kabul attended by the author; September 23, 2014.
12 Author interview with Karzai.
13 Loyn, David; In Afghanistan; p204.
14 Emirate was the title the Taliban claimed. It was a profoundly subversive title, as it denied the democratic foundations of the modern Afghan republic. The background to this incident is in full in chapter 13.
15 The question was asked by the author.
16 Rubin, Alissa J.; New York Times; May 14, 2013; https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/world/asia/general-says-us-not-to-blame-in-death-of-afghan-civilians.html.
17 Sieff, Kevin; Washington Post; March 2, 2014; https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interview-karzai-says-12-year-afghanistan-war-has-left-him-angry-at-us-government/2014/03/02/b831671c-a21a-11e3-b865–38b254d92063_story.html.
18 Sieff, Kevin; Washington Post; January 28, 2014; https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/karzai-suspects-us-is-behind-insurgent-style-attacks-afghan-officials-say/2014/01/27/a70d7568–8779–11e3-a760-a86415d0944d_story.html.
19 Rosenberg, Matthew; New York Times; January 26, 2014; https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/world/asia/government-dossier-accusing-us-in-carnage-amplifies-doubts-about-karzai.html.
20 Loyn, David; “Politics Without Parties—Afghanistan’s Long Road to Democracy”; Royal Society of Asian Affairs Journal; January 29, 2019; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03068374.2019.1567101.
21 Reuters; February 25, 2014; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-usa-obama-idUSBREA1O1B420140225.
22 Report by the author; BBC News; February 14, 2014; https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26166949.
23 Reuters;; June 2, 2014; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-afghanistan-bergdahl/afghan-president-fumes-at-prisoner-deal-made-behind-his-back-source-idINKBN0ED0Z720140602?edition-redirect=uk.
24 General David Richards went onto the equivalent position in the UK.
CHAPTER 13: TALKING TO THE TALIBAN—I
1 Mashal, Mujib; New York Times; December 26, 2016; https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-peace-talks.html.
2 Farwell and Ames; Kindle loc 8039.
3 Ibid.; Kindle loc 3909.
4 Langan, Sean; Sunday Times; October 22, 2017; https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bowe-bergdahl-the-homecoming-from-hell-world-exclusive-interview-rppkznvkj.
5 Ibid.
6 Farwell and Ames; Kindle loc 3024.
7 Dam, Bette; A Man and a Motorcycle; and Dobbins, James and Malkasian, Carter; Time to Negotiate in Afghanistan; Council on Foreign Relations; June 22 2015; https://www.cfr.org/node/162634.
8 Woodward; Bush at War; Kindle loc 586.
9 Strick, Al
ex van Linschoten, and Kuehn, Felix; An Enemy We Created—The Myth of the Taliban / Al-Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan, 1970–2010; Hurst; 2012; p251.
10 Ibid.; p251.
11 Rubin, Barnett; “A Tale of Two Skepticisms: Fighting and Talking with the Taliban during the Obama Years”; War on the Rocks; February 26, 2020.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 See Strick and Kuehn; An Enemy We Created; particularly pp110–155.
17 UPI interview with Mullah Omar; June 14, 2001; https://100years.upi.com/sta_2001–06–14.html.
18 Author interview with Blanc.
19 Author interview.
20 Mashal, Mujib; New York Times; December 26, 2016; https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-peace-talks.html
21 Ibid.
22 A Good Ally—Norway in Afghanistan 2001–2014; Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defense; 2016; https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/09faceca099c4b8bac85ca8495e12d2d/en-gb/pdfs/nou201620160008000engpdfs.pdf.
23 All Things Considered; NPR; September 14, 2010.
24 Rubin; War on the Rocks.
25 Coll; p432.
26 Ibid.; p431.
27 The author was with Holbrooke. He traveled in a BBC armored vehicle.
28 Packer; p502.
29 Author interviews with Taliban; this was a consistent line over many years.
30 Strick and Kuehn; p250ff.
31 Rubin, Barnett R.; Afghanistan—What Everyone Needs to Know; Oxford University Press; 2020; p277.
32 Farwell and Ames; Kindle loc 3266.
33 Author interview with Taliban contact.
34 Clinton, Hillary; Asia Society speech; February 18, 2011; https://2009–2017.state.gov/secretary/20092013clinton/rm/2011/02/156815.htm.
35 Clinton, Hillary Rodham; Hard Choices—A Memoir; Simon & Schuster; 2014; p165.
36 Ibid.; p165.
37 Farwell and Ames; Kindle loc 4065. Campbell confirmed this in author interview.
38 12 Civ. 7039 (DC) (S.D.N.Y. July 15, 2013); United States v. Noorzai.
39 Author interview with Amerine.
40 Amerine whistleblower deposition; January 29, 2015.
41 Military Times; December 10, 2015.
CHAPTER 14: AFGHANISTAN’S WAR
1 Ahmed, Azam and Goldstein, Joseph; “More Aggressive Role by U.S. Military Is Seen in Afghanistan”; New York Times; April 29, 2015; https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/30/world/asia/more-aggressive-role-by-us-military-is-seen-in-afghanistan.html.
2 In the Afghan system, there are two vice presidents.
3 Witnessed by the author.
4 The Times; August 20, 2009; https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/kick-out-karzai-we-deserve-a-second-chance-wnk8f3p0dfx
5 BBC interview by the author; June 6, 2014.
6 Radio Free Europe; December 2015; https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-dostum-accused-abduction-rape-former-governor/28176244.html.
7 Jeong, May; “Death from the Sky—Searching for Ground Truth in the Kunduz Hospital Bombing”; Intercept; April 28, 2016; https://theintercept.com/2016/04/28/searching-for-ground-truth-in-the-kunduz-hospital-bombing.
8 Author interview with McCarthy.
9 Reconstructing the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces—Lessons Learnt from the US Experience in Afghanistan; SIGAR; September 2017; https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/lessonslearned/sigar-17–62-ll.pdf.
10 SIGAR High Risk List; January 2017; https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/spotlight/2017_High-Risk_List.pdf.
11 Pentagon press conference; October 3, 2014.
12 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing; February 12, 2015.
13 SASC hearing
14 Author interview.
15 Raghavan, Sudarshan; Washington Post; December 27, 2015; https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/a-year-of-taliban-gains-shows-that-we-havent-delivered-top-afghan-official-says/2015/12/27/172213e8–9cfb-11e5–9ad2–568d814bbf3b_story.html.
16 Author interview.
17 MSF Internal Review of the Kunduz Hospital Attack; November 2015; https://www.msf.org/afghanistan-msf-releases-internal-review-kunduz-hospital-attack.
18 MSF Review
19 MSF Review
20 New York Times; October 3, 2015; https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/world/asia/afghanistan-bombing-hospital-doctors-without-borders-kunduz.html?searchResultPosition=1.
21 Jeong; Intercept.
22 Author interview with member of Campbell’s staff.
CHAPTER 15: ENDURING COMMITMENT
1 McMaster, Battlegrounds—The Fight to Defend the Free World; HarperCollins; 2020; Kindle loc 2316.
2 Nicholson, John W.; BBC interview; March 12, 2018.
3 Senate confirmation hearing; Federal News Service; January 28, 2016.
4 National Interest; June 3, 2016; https://nationalinterest.org/print/feature/keep-troop-levels-steady-afghanistan-16450.
5 National Interest; September 14, 2016; https://nationalinterest.org/feature/forging-enduring-partnership-afghanistan-17708.
6 All quotations in this account taken from Rucker, Philip, and Leonnig, Carol D.; A Very Stable Genius; Bloomsbury Publishing; 2020; pp131–138.
7 Sevastopulo Demetri and Dyer Geoff; Financial Times; April 3, 2016; https://www.ft.com/content/0f397616-f9b8–11e5–8e04–8600cef2ca75.
8 Snodgrass, Guy M.; Holding the Line; Sentinel; 2019; p61.
9 Snodgrass; p102.
10 Garamone, Jim; DOD News; December 8, 2015; https://www.jcs.mil/Media/News/News-Display/Article/633454/dunford-praises-afghans-progress-in-tough-fight/.
11 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing; February 17, 2017.
12 Logan, Lara; “Ending America’s Longest War”; 60 Minutes, CBS; November 25, 2017.
13 Elliott, David; New York Times; September 16, 2017; https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/16/opinion/trump-afghanistan-vietnam-war.html.
14 Press conference in Kabul with Ash Carter; DODDOC; July 12, 2016.
15 Lamothe, Dan; Washington Post; October 30, 2016; https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/10/30/probably-the-largest-al-qaeda-training-camp-ever-destroyed-in-afghanistan/.
16 Tarzi, Amin; “Islamic State—Khurasan Province”; The Future of Isis; ed. Feisal al-Istrabadi, Sumit Ganguly; Brookings Institution Press; 2018; p124.
17 Pentagon press conference; September 23, 2016.
18 Islamic State Khorasan; CSIS; 2018; https://www.csis.org/programs/transnational-threats-project/terrorism-backgrounders/islamic-state-khorasan-k
19 Petraeus, David, and O’Hanlan, Michael; Wall Street Journal; May 23, 2016.
20 CNN; February 7, 2018; https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/06/politics/us-b-52-bomber-afghanistan-record/index.html.
21 Osman, Borhan; New York Times; May 9, 2017; https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/opinion/the-wrong-enemy-in-afghanistan.html.
22 Press conference in Kabul; author’s notes; April 13, 2017.
23 Gowen, Annie and Salahuddin, Sayed; Washington Post; June 4, 2017; https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-tense-kabul-hundreds-of-anti-government-protesters-demonstrate-near-blast-crater/2017/06/04/3b857c38–48a4–11e7–8de1-cec59a9bf4b1_story.html.
24 This is a direct similarity to the Amanullah government that Noorzai’s great-grandfather served as foreign minister where tribal dress was banned at government meetings.
25 Maiwandi recovered and was appointed to head the National Environmental Protection Agency, a cabinet post.
26 Mashal, Mujib; New York Times; December
19, 2016; https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/world/what-in-the-world/being-an-afghan-general-is-nice-work-if-you-can-get-it-and-many-do.html.