The Hardest Place : The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan's Pech Valley

COLBY AWARD WINNER • “One of the most important books to come out of the Afghanistan war.”— Foreign Policy “A saga of courage and futility, of valor and error and heartbreak.”—Rick Atkinson, author of the Liberation Trilogy and The British Are Coming Of the many battlefields on which U.S. troops and intelligence operatives fought in Afghanistan, one remote corner of the country stands as a microcosm of the American campaign: the Pech and its tributary valleys in Kunar and Nuristan. The area’s rugged, steep terrain and thick forests made it a natural hiding spot for local insurgents and international terrorists alike, and it came to represent both the valor and futility of America’s two-decade-long Afghan war. Drawing on reporting trips, hundreds of interviews, and documentary research, Wesley Morgan reveals the history of the war in this iconic region, captures the culture and reality of the conflict through both American and Afghan eyes, and reports on the snowballing missteps—some kept secret from even the troops fighting there—that doomed the American mission. The Hardest Place is the story of one of the twenty-first century’s most unforgiving battlefields and a portrait of the American military that fought there. When we think of the war in Afghanistan, chances are we're thinking of a small, remote corner of the country where American military action has been concentrated: the Pech and its tributary valleys in Kunar and Nuristan Provinces. The region's rugged, steep terrain and thick forests make it a natural hiding spot for targets in the American war on terror, from senior al-Qaida leaders to members of the Islamic State, and it has been the site of constant U.S. military activity for nearly two decades. Wesley Morgan first embedded with American troops in the Pech in 2010, as a freelance journalist still in college. By then, the Pech and its most infamous tributary, the Korengal, had become emblematic of the larger war. But Morgan found that few of the troops fighting there could tell him about the origins of their remote outposts--why and when they had been built--or what American success in Afghanistan might look like. In The Hardest Place, he unravels that history. Drawing on reporting trips, hundreds of interviews with Americans and Afghans, and documentary research, Morgan captures the culture and reality of the war through both American and Afghan eyes and chronicles the snowballing American missteps that made each unit's job harder than the last. He writes vividly of large-scale missions gone awry, years-long hunts for individuals, and the infantrymen, special operations troops, contractors, and intelligence officers who cycled through, including the few who returned again and again to the same slowly evolving fight. As the American war in Afghanistan drags on through its third presidential administration, Morgan concludes that the military has created a status quo that could last forever in the Pech, with U.S. troops and aircraft always in search of the next target. The Hardest Place is not only a story of combat on some of the most unforgiving battlefields of the twenty-first century, but also a portrait of the American military that fought there--a force whose can-do attitude too often led it to plunge headlong into tasks that proved impossible. -- From dust jacket A deeply reported history of the American war in Afghanistan told through the infantry battalions and commando teams who fought in one of the country's most violent regions: the Pech valley. When we think of the war in Afghanistan, chances are we're thinking of a small, remote corner of the country where American military action has been concentrated: the Pech and its tributary valleys in Kunar and Nuristan provinces. The rugged, steep terrain and thick forests made the region a natural hiding spot for targets in the American war on terror, from Osama bin Laden to the Islamic State, and it has been the site of constant U.S. military activity for nearly two decades. Even as the U.S. presence in Afghanistan transitions to a drone war, the Pech has remained at the center of it, a testbed for a new method of remote warfare. Wesley Morgan first visited the Pech in 2010, while he was still a college student embedding with military units as a freelancer. By then, the Pech and its infamous tributary the Korengal had become emblematic of the war, but Morgan found that few of the troops fighting there could explain why their remote outposts had been built. In The Hardest Place, he unravels the history those troops didn't know, captures the culture and reality of the war through both American and Afghan eyes, and reports on the snowballing American missteps that made each unit's job harder than the last as storied outfits like Marines, paratroopers, Rangers, Green Berets, and SEALs all took their turn. Through reporting trips, hundreds of interviews with Americans and Afghans, and documentary research, Morgan writes vividly of large-scale missions gone awry, years-long hunts for single individuals, and the soldiers, Marines, commandos, and intelligence operatives who cycle through, along with several who return again and again to the same slowly evolving fight. As the war drags on through its third presidential administration, Morgan concludes that we've created a status quo that could last forever in the Pech, always in search of the next target "When we think of the war in Afghanistan, chances are we're thinking of a small, remote corner of the country where American military action has been concentrated: the Pech and its tributary valleys in Kunar and Nuristan provinces. The rugged, steep terrain and thick forests made the region a natural hiding spot for targets in the American war on terror, from Osama bin Laden to the Islamic State, and it has been the site of constant U.S. military activity for nearly two decades. Even as the U.S. presence in Afghanistan transitions to a drone war, the Pech has remained at the center of it, a testbed for a new method of remote warfare. Wesley Morgan, who grew up with the war, observing it closely, first visited the Pech in 2010, while he was still a college student embedding with military units as a freelancer. By then, the Pech and its infamous tributary the Korengal had become emblematic of the war, but Morgan found that few of the troops fighting there could explain how or when their remote outposts had been built. In The Hardest Place, he unravels the history those troops didn't know, captures the culture and reality of the war through both American and Afghan eyes, and reports on the snowballing American missteps that made each unit's job harder than the last as storied outfits like Marines, paratroopers, Rangers, Green Berets, and SEALs all took their turn. Through reporting trips, hundreds of interviews with Americans and Afghans, and documentary research, Morgan writes vividly of large-scale missions gone awry, years-long hunts for single individuals, and the soldiers, Marines, commandos, and intelligence operatives who cycle through, along with several who return again and again to the same slowly evolving fight. With these stories, he shows how the Pech Valley has long been a microcosm of the entire war. As the war drags on through its third presidential administration, Morgan concludes that we've created a status quo that could last forever in the Pech, always in search of the next target"-- Provided by publisher "The definitive account of America's heroic but ultimately doomed effort in one of Afghanistan's most rugged regions."—Sebastian Junger, author of Tribe "A saga of courage and futility, of valor and error and heartbreak."—Rick Atkinson, author of the Liberation Trilogy When we think of the war in Afghanistan, chances are we're thinking of a small, remote corner of the country where American military action has been concentrated: the Pech and its tributary valleys in Kunar and Nuristan provinces. The rugged, steep terrain and thick forests made the region a natural hiding spot for targets in the American war on terror, from Osama bin Laden to the Islamic State, and it has been the site of constant U.S. military activity for nearly two decades. Even as the U.S. presence in Afghanistan transitions to a drone war, the Pech has remained at the center of it, a testbed for a new method of remote warfare. Wesley Morgan first visited the Pech...