Us Counter-Terrorism Operations in Afghanistan: Jackpots, Dry Holes, and Collateral Damage

In this landmark work, Jonathan Schroden captures the complete history of U.S. counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan. Beginning with the United States’ overthrow of the Taliban government in 2001 and ending with the Taliban’s overthrow of the US-backed government twenty years later, Schroden describes the creation, evolution, operations, and results of US and Afghan special operations task forces designed to counter al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Islamic State in Afghanistan.

Building on existing scholarly research into US counter-terror operations, this book also features analysis of memoirs, news and investigative reporting, official U.S. government accounts and documents, as well as interviews with key leaders of U.S. counter-terrorism units and operations in Afghanistan. The result is a complete, detailed, nuanced, and objective understanding of the goals, approaches, and results of U.S. counter-terrorism operations during its war in Afghanistan.

Jonathan Schroden is Director of the Countering Threats and Challenges Program, and Director of the Special Operations Program at CNA Corporation. He has analysed Afghanistan security issues since 2008, during which time he travelled 13 times to Afghanistan and led four independent assessments of Afghanistan’s security forces for the Office of the Secretary of Defence. He has published extensively on these topics and is also an adjunct professor at the George Washington University, USA, where he lectures on US special operations.