Military Afghanistan

On June 30, 2009, Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl left his post in eastern Afghanistan, about 25 miles from the Pakistani border. He was quickly captured by local tribesmen, who sold him up the Taliban's chain of command. In May 2014, after almost five years in captivity - the longest held and most brutalised prisoner of war since Vietnam - he was released. Within hours, however, some of Bergdahl's former platoon mates were denouncing him as a deserter. Bergdahl admits walking away from his guard post of his own volition. But what is the truth: is Bowe Bergdahl a traitor or a hero?

Lieutenant Kyle Nolan leads an elite unit of US Navy SEALs. Until he and Petty Officer John-Wesley Ryder are benched, accused of a two murders. Crimes they didn’t commit. Their boss, Admiral Jacks, wants them out of the country while he looks for answers to prove their innocence. The only mission available means escorting a State Department courier to Syria. He will be carrying a case filled with cash to prop up the PKK, the Kurdish resistance army. Syria, a Middle Eastern nightmare. A nation at war with more conflicting armies than any sane man can count. From the moment they land, they ...

The war in Vietnam is over. Yet the descendants of those who fought there are pulled into a new war - a war in a country whose name has come to mean unending conflict, unending brutality, and unending killing: Afghanistan. Into this tortured land flies the civilian pilot Max Hoffman. Out of luck and out of money, he is easy prey to the CIA, who recruits him to join its hidden war. Hoffman soon discovers the American intelligence officers have a hidden agenda - personal gain and profit at any cost.

The first rule of warfare is to know one's enemy. The second is to know thyself. More than 15 years and three quarters of a trillion dollars after the US invasion of Afghanistan, it's clear that the United States followed neither rule well. America's goals in Afghanistan were lofty to begin with: dismantle al Qaeda, remove the Taliban from power, and remake the country into a democracy.

On 11 September 2001 19 al-Qaeda-inspired jihadists hijacked four aircraft and mounted the deadliest terrorist attack in history. The outrage triggered a chain of events that saw British forces drawn into a lengthy military campaign against a fierce insurgency in Afghanistan. Sergio Miller served in Defence Intelligence in Whitehall throughout the campaign, and Pride and Fall answers the many questions surrounding the conflict. Based on abundant open-source material generated by the war and first-hand testimonies, this is the story of the men and women who served.

In the summer of 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts organized a series of writing workshops, led by prominent authors, to encourage U.S. troops and their families to record their experiences and reflections on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The result is this extraordinary volume of first-hand letters, poems, journals, memoirs, and e-mails from the men and women directly involved in battle and their families back home.

The Westland Apache AH Mk 1 is the deadliest, most technically advanced helicopter in the world - and only the top two per cent of pilots even make it through the training. In 2007, Ed's Apache squadron was dispatched to Helmand, Afghanistan. Their mission: to protect the men on the ground. So when a marine goes missing in action during an attack on a Taliban stronghold, Ed and his team know they are the Army's only hope of getting him out.

War is dangerous in itself but when someone is at war with themselves at the same time, it becomes even more dangerous. Within two weeks of the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands, four men of Boat Troop, B Squadron, 22 SAS, are on the islands too. It is the mission of these four men to gather vital intelligence, with Argentine patrols everywhere. The rest of B Squadron are tasked with a suicide mission -- an attack on the Argentine airbase in the mainland. In charge is a man unafraid to risk the lives of his men in search of greater personal glory.

In July 2009 Geraint (Gez) Jones was sitting in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, with the rest of The Firm - Danny, Jay, Toby and Jake, his four closest friends, all junior NCOs and combat-hardened infantrymen. Thanks to the mangled remains of a Jackal vehicle left tactlessly outside their tent, IEDs were never far from their mind. Within days they’d be on the ground in Musa Qala with the rest of 3 Platoon - a mixed bunch of men Gez would die for.

Rafe Stoner, a former Navy SEAL, leads a cruel existence as a gun for hire in Afghanistan. After the brutal killing of his fiancée, he vowed a brutal revenge. A revenge that littered the landscape with the bodies of those responsible. Now he learns his work is not over. A wealthy, young Afghan woman holds the key to the identity of the Taliban commander who ordered the murder. Stoner sets out with his ally, Greg Blum, to hunt down the last of the guilty men.

In 1958, Richard Nixon described Afghanistan as "unconquerable." On August 15, 2021, he was proven right. After twenty years of intervention, US and NATO forces retreated, enabling the Taliban to return to power. Tens of thousands were killed in the long, unwinnable war, and millions more were displaced—leaving the future of Afghanistan hanging in the balance. Leading expert Amin Saikal traces the full story of America's intervention, from 9/11 to the present crisis.

Plunging deep into midst of some of the hottest conflicts on the globe, Robert D. Kaplan takes us through mud and jungle, desert and dirt to the men and women on the ground who are leading the charge against threats to American security. These soldiers, fighting in thick Colombian jungles or on dusty Afghani plains, are the forefront of the new American foreign policy, a policy being implemented one soldier at a time.

He made a choice, and it cost him everything. War brought him to Afghanistan, but for James Stone, it is a chance to help those trapped between the conflict. But in a land where every decision holds powerful and deadly consequences, a single act of kindness will cost him more than he ever thought possible. Western armies sweep through the country fighting a brutal and unpredictable enemy that thrives on chaos and destruction, no matter the cost. As the monsters of Afghanistan step out of the shadows, a simple mission quickly descends into a terrifying fight for survival for Stone and his ...

Convinced in 1838 that Britain's invaluable empire in India was threatened by Russia, Persia, and Afghan tribes, the British government ordered its Army of the Indus into Afghanistan to oust from power the independent-minded king, Dost Mohammed, and install in Kabul the unpopular puppet ruler Shah Shuja. Expecting a quick campaign, the British found themselves trapped by unforeseen circumstances; eventually the tribes united and the seemingly omnipotent army was slaughtered in 1842 as it desperately retreated through the mountain passes from Kabul to Jalalabad.

Son of the renowned Sydney obstetrician, Dr William McBride raised the alarm on the anti-nausea drug thalidomide in the 1960s and was later struck off the medical register for falsifying research results in a bid to challenge the safety of another drug. David chose to study Law, firstly at Sydney University and then at Oxford. There he met some British army officers and decided that soldiering was his calling, going on to train at Sandhurst.

In July 2009, Geraint (Gez) Jones was sitting in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan with the rest of The Firm – Danny, Jay, Toby and Jake, his four closest friends, all junior NCOs and combat-hardened infantrymen. Thanks to the mangled remains of a Jackal vehicle left tactlessly outside their tent, IEDs were never far from their mind. Within days they’d be on the ground in Musa Qala with the rest of 3 Platoon – a mixed bunch of men Gez would die for.

Snipers work in pairs so relationship and trust are all important. Snipers are elite soldiers and clearly the author is among the best of the best. A Sniper's Conflict is a superb account of professional soldiering at the sharp end....

Lieutenant Morgan Fox was just another UH 60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot based out of Bagram Airbase. Until he was shot down. The only way back into the air was to help search for a missing helicopter, past due. Another 'Hawk pilot was missing along with a black operations team. Time was critical. Every day the team was gone meant their chance of survival would drop dramatically. Forced into a search grid he didn't think was correct, he worked with Captain Tony Fisher to find a way to also look in another target area. Using his uncanny intuition and 6th sense, he worked out the possible ...

During his first deployment to Afghanistan, Joseph Perez saw two angels above a friend who was about to go on a combat patrol. Moments later, his friend was struck by an improvised explosive device. This was the first of several times Perez would see angels in the spiritual realm. This book is not about him; rather, it is a message of hope and faith. Perez’s story shows that it’s okay to be a Christian no matter the circumstances. He always said if he got kicked out of the military for being open about his faith, then at least he would leave for the right reasons.

Like many post-9/11 combat veterans, JT Blatty struggled to regain her sense of purpose in the first years returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2018, a chance encounter brought her to Ukraine, drawn in by the familiarity of war and those who serve in wars. Over five years, JT captured the oral history and portraits of a tribe of revolutionaries, the Donbas volunteer soldiers. As she embedded with them on the front line in bunkers and forests, and in Kyiv flats, JT's story began to blend with theirs in a universal bond of combat veterans, compelling her to stay as a new war began.