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Product details of "The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War" by Craig Whitlock:

- ISBN: 9781982159009

- Author: Craig Whitlock

- Genre: History

- Publication: Simon & Schuster

- Pages: 368 pages

- Format: Hardback

- Language: English

**Description:**

"The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War" by Craig Whitlock is a groundbreaking investigative story that reveals how three successive U.S. presidents and their military commanders deceived the public for years about America's longest war, ultimately leading to the Taliban's recapture of Afghanistan.

The book delves into the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, which initially had strong public support with clear goals: to defeat al-Qaeda and prevent another 9/11 attack. However, as time went on, the mission's objectives became muddled, and U.S. officials lost sight of their original goals. The distractions of the Iraq War and an increasingly complex guerrilla conflict in Afghanistan left the United States in a difficult situation.

Despite the lack of progress and the unrealistic prospect of outright victory, no president wanted to admit failure in a war that began with just cause. Instead, the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations continued to send more troops to Afghanistan and maintained the illusion of progress, even when they knew the reality on the ground was different.

"The Afghanistan Papers" presents shocking revelations from individuals directly involved in the war, including leaders in the White House and the Pentagon, as well as soldiers and aid workers on the front lines. These insiders admit that U.S. government strategies were flawed, the nation-building project was a failure, and drugs and corruption plagued Afghan government allies. The account is based on interviews with over 1,000 people who knew that the U.S. government was presenting a distorted or entirely fabricated version of the facts in Afghanistan.

This book contains documents from The Washington Post that expose the lack of knowledge and understanding among U.S. leaders about the situation in Afghanistan. President Bush didn't even know the name of his Afghanistan war commander, and top officials admitted their limited understanding of al-Qaeda and the situation on the ground.

"The Afghanistan Papers" is a revealing and shocking account that demands a long-overdue reckoning with the failures and deceptions of the U.S. government in the Afghan conflict. It promises to reshape how this war is remembered and understood.