Long before it became "Obama's War," the long-running conflict in
Afghanistan was launched by President George W. Bush in retaliation
for the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Only a few months later,
Operation Anaconda sent American-led coalition forces into their
most intensely brutal confrontation with Al Qaeda and their Taliban
hosts in the Shar-i Kot Valley near the Pakistan border. The result
was an unexpected set piece of conventional fighting in what has
become an era of guerrilla warfare.
Drawing upon previously unavailable or neglected sources, Lester
Grau and Dodge Billingsley give us the most complete and accurate
account of this thirteen-day firefight waged in mountainous terrain
nearly two miles above sea level. They describe how allied troops
fought a fierce and well-entrenched enemy to a standstill, close to
an old Soviet battlefield, and then drove them completely out of
Afghanistan.
Grau and Billingsley's account also highlights problems
encountered in Anaconda and the lessons we should learn from their
in-depth study. The Army and Air Force operated under conflicting
views regarding the appropriate application of Close Air Support,
and airpower both crippled and aided the overall effort. In
addition, severe shortages of transport, attack helicopters, and
artillery hampered the effort, while the acquisition and timely
sharing of intelligence barely occurred at all and coalition
relations frayed under the intense pressures of combat.
As an added bonus, the authors also include with the book a
documentary on DVD that features interviews with soldiers who
fought in Anaconda, provides additional information concerning
major phases of the battle, and presents insightful commentary by
Grau and by Billingsley, who was on the ground with U.S. forces for
the operation. Providing the richest description and critique of
all the forces involved--including those that fought on the enemy
side--the combined book-and-DVD surpasses all previous accounts of
this landmark engagement and is an essential volume in the
literature on our war in Afghanistan.
General
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