9780307989185
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Little America audiobook

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Little America Audiobook Summary

From the award-winning author of Imperial Life in the Emerald City, a riveting, intimate account of America’s troubled war in Afghanistan.

When President Barack Obama ordered the surge of troops and aid to Afghanistan, Washington Post correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran followed. He found the effort sabotaged not only by Afghan and Pakistani malfeasance but by infighting and incompetence within the American government: a war cabinet arrested by vicious bickering among top national security aides; diplomats and aid workers who failed to deliver on their grand promises; generals who dispatched troops to the wrong places; and headstrong military leaders who sought a far more expansive campaign than the White House wanted. Through their bungling and quarreling, they wound up squandering the first year of the surge.

Chandrasekaran explains how the United States has never understood Afghanistan—and probably never will. During the Cold War, American engineers undertook a massive development project across southern Afghanistan in an attempt to woo the country from Soviet influence. They built dams and irrigation canals, and they established a comfortable residential community known as Little America, with a Western-style school, a coed community pool, and a plush clubhouse—all of which embodied American and Afghan hopes for a bright future and a close relationship. But in the late 1970s—after growing Afghan resistance and a Communist coup—the Americans abandoned the region to warlords and poppy farmers.

In one revelatory scene after another, Chandrasekaran follows American efforts to reclaim the very same territory from the Taliban. Along the way, we meet an Army general whose experience as the top military officer in charge of Iraq’s Green Zone couldn’t prepare him for the bureaucratic knots of Afghanistan, a Marine commander whose desire to charge into remote hamlets conflicted with civilian priorities, and a war-seasoned diplomat frustrated in his push for a scaled-down but long-term American commitment. Their struggles show how Obama’s hope of a good war, and the Pentagon’s desire for a resounding victory, shriveled on the arid plains of southern Afghanistan.

Meticulously reported, hugely revealing, Little America is an unprecedented examination of a failing war—and an eye-opening look at the complex relationship between America and Afghanistan.

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Little America Audiobook Narrator

Rajiv Chandrasekaran is the narrator of Little America audiobook that was written by Rajiv Chandrasekaran

About the Author(s) of Little America

Rajiv Chandrasekaran is the author of Little America

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Little America Full Details

Narrator Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Length 12 hours 52 minutes
Author Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Category
Publisher Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Release date May 01, 2024
ISBN 9780307989185

Subjects

The publisher of the Little America is Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group. includes the following subjects: afghanistan, middle east, barack obama, afghan war, al-qaeda, george w bush, hillary rodham clinton, iraq war, democracy, NATO, pakistan, david petraeus, state department, taliban, afghanistan books, afghanistan war, military, war, military history, geopolitics, american history, international relations, us history, political science, government, military books, public policy, army, gifts for history buffs, political philosophy, gifts for dad, dad gifts, political science books, battles, war books, military history books, History, Military, Afghan War (2001-), Political Science, Geopolitics The BISAC Subject Code is Afghan War (2001-), History, Military

Additional info

The publisher of the Little America is Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group. The imprint is Random House Audio. It is supplied by Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group. The ISBN-13 is 9780307989185.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

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