To Lose a War

The Fall and Rise of the Taliban

Jon Lee Anderson

• Publisher: Fitzcarraldo Editions
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN:
  9781804272442
• Subtopic: Geopolitics

Jon Lee Anderson first reported from Afghanistan in the late 1980s, covering the US-backed mujahideen's insurrection against the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul. Within days of the 9/11 attacks, he was again on the ground as an early eyewitness to the new war launched by the US against the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies. At the time, the American military had prevailed on the battlefield, and the newfound peace seemed to offer a precious space for Afghan society to restore itself and to forge a democratic future. But all was not well: Osama bin Laden was still in hiding, the Taliban were stealthily reorganizing for a comeback, and the United States was about to turn its attention to Iraq.  To Lose a War collects Anderson's writing from Afghanistan over a near-quarter-century span, offering a chronological account of a monumental tragedy as it unfolds. The colossal waste, missed signals, and wishful thinking that characterized the twenty-year arc of the US-led war in Afghanistan have consecrated it as one of the greatest foreign policy failures of the modern era, and a bellwether of a larger American imperial decline.

Table of contents

• PRAISE
• TITLE PAGE
• CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• A NOTE ON TITLE CHANGES
• I. A LION’S DEATH
• II. THE WAR LORD
• III. IN THE COURT OF THE PRETENDER
• IV. THE SURRENDER
• V. CITY OF DREAMS
• VI. HOLY AND OTHER WARRIORS
• VII. MULLAH OMAR’S FAVORITE SONGS
• VIII. THE ASSASSINS
• IX. THE MAN IN THE PALACE
• X. THE AMERICANS’ OPIUM WAR
• XI. DAY OF THE SUPERWADI
• XII. FORCE AND FUTILITY
• XIII. ANNALS OF ASSASSINATION
• XIV. AN AMERICAN WAY OF KILLING
• XV. THE BALLAD OF MULLAH OMAR
• XVI. KUNDUZ FALLS AGAIN
• XVII. THE RETURN OF THE TALIBAN
• XVIII. THE END OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE?
• XIX. AFTER THE FALL
• AFTERWORD
• NOTES ON IMAGES
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• COPYRIGHT