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The Case for Withdrawal from Afghanistan

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Edited by Nick Turse

Leading commentators examine the Afghan debacle and its parallels with previous British and Soviet occupations.

Known as the graveyard of empires, Afghanistan has now been singled out as Obama’s “just war,” the destination for an additional thirty thousand US troops in an effort to shore up an increasingly desperate occupation. Nick Turse brings together a range of leading analysts—including Andrew Bacevich, Malalai Joya, Chalmers Johnson and Ann Jones—to analyze America’s real motives and likely prospects. Through on-the-spot reporting, clear-headed analysis and historical comparisons with Afghanistan’s previous occupiers—Britain and the Soviet Union, who also argued that they were fighting just and winnable wars —The Case for Withdrawal from Afghanistan carefully examines the current US strategy and offers sobering conclusions. This timely and focused collection aims at the heart of Obama’s foreign policy and shows why it is so unlikely to succeed.

ADVANCED COMMENTS

A fascinating and essential guide which puts the war in Afghanistan in the context of its recent history and dispels propaganda stereotypes about how the U.S., Britain, and their allies became involved.”

— Patrick Coburn, author of The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq

“A pathbreaking synthesis of American and Russian perspectives on the illusions of empire and the impossibility of ‘victory’ in Afghanistan.  As the contributors so eloquently emphasize, the only realistic and humane option can be spelled in three letters: O-U-T.”

— Mike Davis, author of Buda’s Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb