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The gardener of Lashkar Gah : a true story of the Afghans who risked everything to fight the Taliban / by Brown, Larisa,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.The powerful true story of the Afghans left behind as the Taliban conquered the country. The 20-year war fought by the US and its allies in Afghanistan is the longest war of the 21st century. It brought opportunity and tragedy for those who were forced to live through it. The abrupt withdrawal of British and American troops in 2021, in what may come to be regarded as one of the worst foreign policy failures of the past hundred years, precipitated the swift recapture of the country by the Taliban. With the withdrawal came upheaval and torment for Afghans who had loyally served alongside NATO forces and were left to fend for themselves at the gates of Kabul airport. This is the story of one such family. The Gardener of Lashkar Gah follows the extraordinary journey of Shaista Gul, a kind man who built a beautiful garden inside a British military base in Helmand Province that became famous as a calm oasis for soldiers with troubled minds. Other members of his family worked for the allies, including his son Jamal, who became an interpreter for the British Army when he was just a teenager. Following the chaotic withdrawal of allied troops, all members of the family suffered. Larisa Brown-Defence Editor for The Times, award-winning journalist and a campaigner for the interpreters of Afghanistan-has spent hundreds of hours talking to members of the Gul family and others in order to tell their remarkable story. In heart-warming and beautifully human prose, she unspools a tale of courage, hope and sacrifice-with the beauty of the garden and the hopes and dreams of the family counterpointed against the violence, anger and chaos raging in Afghanistan at the time. The scandalous betrayal of many of the interpreters and others who worked for the British and American armies is still being revealed. By telling one family's bittersweet experience-The Gardener of Lashkar Gah provides a unique and powerful insight into the devastating effects on ordinary Afghans of the end of the disastrous 'War on Terror'.
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Afghan War, 2001-2021.; Gardeners;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The fifth act : America's end in Afghanistan / by Ackerman, Elliot,author.;
"A powerful and revelatory eyewitness account of the American collapse in Afghanistan, its desperate endgame, and the war's echoing legacy. Elliot Ackerman left the American military ten years ago, but his time in Afghanistan and Iraq with the Marines and, later, as a CIA paramilitary officer marked him indelibly. When the Taliban began to close in on Kabul in August of 2021 and the Afghan regime began its death spiral, he found himself pulled back into the conflict. Afghan nationals who had, for years, worked closely with the American military and intelligence communities now faced brutal reprisal and sought frantically to flee the country with their families. The official US government evacuation process was a bureaucratic failure that led to a humanitarian catastrophe. With his former colleagues, and friends, protecting the airport in Kabul, Ackerman was drawn into an impromptu effort alongside a group of journalists, and other veterans, to arrange flights and negotiate with both Taliban and American forces to secure the safe evacuation of hundreds. These were desperate measures taken during a desperate end to America's longest war, but the success they achieved afforded a degree of redemption. And, for Ackerman, a chance to reconcile his past with his present. The Fifth Act is an astonishing human document that brings the weight of twenty years of war to bear on a single week at its bitter end. Using the dramatic rescue efforts in Kabul as his lattice, Ackerman weaves in a personal history of the war's long progress, beginning with the initial invasion in the months after 9/11. It is a play in five acts, the fifth act being the story's tragic denouement, a prelude to Afghanistan's dark future. Any reader who wants to understand what went wrong with the war's trajectory will find a trenchant accounting here. And yet The Fifth Act is not an exercise in finger-pointing: it brings readers into close contact with a remarkable group of characters, American and Afghan, who fought the war with courage and dedication, in good faith and at great personal cost. Understanding combatants' experiences and sacrifices while reckoning with the complex bottom line of the post-9/11 wars is not an easy balance; it demands reservoirs of wisdom and the gifts of an extraordinary storyteller. It asks for an author willing to grapple with certain hard-earned truths. In Elliot Ackerman, this story has found that author. The Fifth Act is a first draft of history that feels like a timeless classic"--
Subjects: Ackerman, Elliot.; United States. Central Intelligence Agency.; United States. Marine Corps. Marine Regiment, 8th. Battalion, 1st.; Afghan War, 2001-2021; Afghan War, 2001-2021; Afghan War, 2001-2021; Disengagement (Military science); Paramilitary forces;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Operation Medusa : the furious battle that saved Afghanistan from the Taliban / by Fraser, David(Major-General),author.; Hanington, Brian,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."David Fraser, the Canadian in charge of the joint military command in Kandahar Province in Afghanistan, tells the real on-the-ground story of one of NATO's bloodiest, most decisive and misunderstood operations: The battle of Panjwayi, the defining moment of "Operation Medusa." In 2006, David Fraser was the Canadian general in charge of the joint military command in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Like the troops under his command, he was in no way ready for what happened on Friday, September 1st of that year. He had been woken the night before by his intelligence officers who informed him that the Taliban were amassing on all fronts for an all-out battle. The NATO Alliance was about to engage the enemy in the greatest and bloodiest battle of their 70-year history. And they were grossly outnumbered. The facts of Operation Medusa have themselves been the casualties of war. At first deliberately withheld as classified, then muddied by imprecise and isolated personal accounts, exaggerated by rumour, misstated by ambition, or just rejected outright as irrelevant, the details of these events are still unknown by citizens of Canada and her allies. And yet the truth about those 15 agonizing days between September 2 and 17 is astounding. The secret agreements made in those two weeks, the expected death toll of Canadian soldiers, the wholesale changes to tactics made after the first engagement, the strafing of Charles Company by an American A-10, the contribution of the Afghan police, the genius of the Dutch artillery, the discovery of drugs, the extent of unreported civilian casualties, and even Canadian and Allied reliance on the insights of village elders were classified and kept from public knowledge. And yet in international military circles, the Battle of Panjwayi was quickly hailed as the defining moment of Operation Medusa. Canadians were credited with nothing less than saving Afghanistan from falling under Taliban rule. Our military's strategy and tactics were soon studied in warfare colleges in the U.S., and practiced by NATO troops in exercises around the world. Canada's reputation as a contributor to allied defence was once again revered. There is no one architect of Operation Medusa, a theme deeply embedded in David Fraser's first-hand account, but if anyone really had to point to the one person who could tell this incredible story, it is the Canadian General in charge of the joint military command"--
Subjects: International Security Assistance Force (Afghanistan); North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Operation Medusa, 2006.; Afghan War, 2001-;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The fighters : Americans in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq / by Chivers, C. J.(Christopher John),author.;
"Almost 2.5 million Americans have served in Afghanistan or Iraq since September 11, 2001. C.J. Chivers has reported from both fronts from the beginning, walking side by side with combatants for more than a dozen years. He describes the experience of war today as it is endured by those most at risk--the camaraderie and profound sense of purpose, alongside courage, frustration, and moral confusion mixed with technical precision. In these remote places where the reason for their presence is sometimes not clear, these young men kill or are killed, facing palpable and often constant threat of ambush or hidden bombs. They repeatedly return, rushing toward danger, often to rescue the wounded in wars that escalate around them as the Pentagon changes doctrines and plans. Weaving a history of the war through troops' experiences, the characters in The Fighters climb into an F-14 cockpit for the opening strikes after the attacks of 9/11, hunt for Osama bin Laden along the Pakistani border, chase insurgent rocket teams with helicopters alongside American bases, face snipers in a hostile city in Anbar Province in Iraq, and engage in deadly counterguerilla warfare in the soaring mountains of the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. Some suffer terribly. All are changed. They return home, uncertain of their place in the world and what their wars have achieved. Chivers accompanied combatants over many years and multiple tours, including many of the characters in this book, developing deep understanding of the experience of combat in our times. The Fighters, his tour de force, tells a history of America's longest wars as well as the lives of the volunteers who have waged them"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Afghan War, 2001-; Iraq War, 2003-2011; Soldiers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A line in the sand : Canadians at war in Kandahar / by Wiss, Ray,1959-;
Subjects: Wiss, Ray, 1959-; Canada. Canadian Armed Forces.; Afghan War, 2001-; Afghan War, 2001-; Physicians; Physicians; Soldiers; Soldiers;
© 2010., Douglas & McIntyre,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Listen to the wind : the story of Dr. Greg and Three cups of tea / by Mortenson, Greg.; Roth, Susan L.;
Includes bibliographical references.Discusses Greg Mortenson's first building project in Pakistan which was the building of a school.LSC
Subjects: Mortenson, Greg; Girls' schools; Girls' schools; Humanitarian assistance, American; Humanitarian assistance, American;
© c2009., Penguin,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The fighting Canadians : our regimental history from New France to Afghanistan / by Bercuson, David Jay,1945-;
Subjects: Canada. Canadian Armed Forces; Canada. Canadian Army;
© 2008., HarperCollins,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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American Spartan : the promise, the mission, and the betrayal of Special Forces Major Jim Gant / by Tyson, Ann,1959-;
LSC
Subjects: Gant, James, Major.; United States. Army. Special Forces; Counterinsurgency; Afghan War, 2001; Afghan War, 2001-; Afghan War, 2001-;
© c2014., William Morrow,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Dog Company : a true story of American soldiers abandoned by their high command / by Vincent, Lynn,author.; Hill, Roger T.,author.;
"Two decorated American war heroes survive combat in Afghanistan only to find themselves on an unfamiliar battlefield--the courtroom--in this true story by the commander of Delta Company, 1/506th a.k.a. Dog Company. The deaths of two of his men is agony for Captain Roger Hill and the agony is intensified when he realizes those responsible--12 Taliban spies--have been working right under his nose on the American base. When unreasonable military regulations demand that he free the spies within 96 hours, and Hill can't get his superior officer to respond to the deadline, he takes action to intimidate the prisoners to confess--and to protect his company from another attack. Instead of being thanked, Hill's superior brings him up on charges making this decorated officer's next battle a personal one--for his honor and for that of 1st Sergeant Tommy Scott, his second in command. Combining the camaraderie and battle action of Band of Brothers with the military courtroom drama of A Few Good Men, Roger Hill's story will leave you impassioned, inspired and forever changed"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Personal narratives.; Hill, Roger T.; Hill, Roger T.; United States. Army. Parachute Infantry Regiment, 506th. Company D.; United States. Army; Taliban.; Afghan War, 2001-; Soldiers; Courage; Spies; Military courts;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Dog Company [sound recording] : a true story of American soldiers abandoned by their high command / by Vincent, Lynn,author.; Grant, Christopher Ryan,narrator.; Hill, Roger T.,author.; Hachette Audio (Firm),publisher.;
Read by Christopher Ryan Grant."Two decorated American war heroes survive combat in Afghanistan only to find themselves on an unfamiliar battlefield--the courtroom--in this true story by the commander of Delta Company, 1/506th a.k.a. Dog Company. The deaths of two of his men is agony for Captain Roger Hill and the agony is intensified when he realizes those responsible--12 Taliban spies--have been working right under his nose on the American base. When unreasonable military regulations demand that he free the spies within 96 hours, and Hill can't get his superior officer to respond to the deadline, he takes action to intimidate the prisoners to confess--and to protect his company from another attack. Instead of being thanked, Hill's superior brings him up on charges making this decorated officer's next battle a personal one--for his honor and for that of 1st Sergeant Tommy Scott, his second in command. Combining the camaraderie and battle action of Band of Brothers with the military courtroom drama of A Few Good Men, Roger Hill's story will leave you impassioned, inspired and forever changed"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Personal narratives.; Audiobooks.; Hill, Roger T.; Hill, Roger T.; United States. Army. Parachute Infantry Regiment, 506th. Company D.; United States. Army; Taliban.; Afghan War, 2001-; Soldiers; Courage; Spies; Military courts;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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