Voices of the Afghanistan War

The War in Afghanistan was the longest military conflict in American history. In a diverse collection of primary documents, this book explores the evolving legacy of the war and its impact on the countless lives it changed forever.

Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States spent almost 20 years at war in Afghanistan until it officially withdrew its military forces in August 2021. As the longest war in American history, the War in Afghanistan cost trillions of dollars to sustain and claimed the lives of thousands of American soldiers and many more Afghan civilians.

Voices of the Afghanistan War tells the story of the war from its varied perspectives, including documents from American and Afghan politicians, high-ranking military officers, and diplomats. The topics covered are even more diverse, ranging from the building and training of security forces and the use of drones in modern warfare to the importance of education and the role of women in combat.

What the editors lead readers to understand is that the peoples referred to as Afghans have little in common beyond the land itself—a simple, basic, and ultimately ignored reality at the heart of the U.S. invasion, occupation, and frustration in Afghanistan.