In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

MANY BOOKS ORIGINATE with an epiphany, that illuminating moment when an idea first strikes the writer like a bolt of lightning. Mine came in a rather unkempt setting. I had lunch in January 2007 with Bruce Hoffman, a colleague and friend, at The Tombs, a drab, windowless pub in Washington, DC. I had been thinking about writing a book but had made little progress in narrowing down a rather inchoate set of ideas. Bruce convinced me that my repeated trips to Afghanistan put me in an enviable position to write about Afghanistan and its recent history. A great deal of ink had been spilled about Iraq after the 2003 U.S. invasion. But Afghanistan, the initial front in America’s global war on terror, had been pushed to the backburner. It was sage advice.

Writing any book is a struggle, what John Mearsheimer, my graduate school adviser, likened to getting up every day and wrestling with a bear. This book was no different. But the process was facilitated by the kindness and help of countless individuals. Several read drafts of the manuscript and provided excellent comments, including Peter Bergen, Daniel Byman, James Dobbins, Bruce Hoffman, Arturo Munoz, Ronald Neumann, David Phillips, and Obaid Younossi. Several others served as explicit or implicit tutors on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and their respective histories, especially Barnett Rubin and Ahmed Rashid. Still others were helpful in broader discussions on counterinsurgency, including Austin Long, Christine Fair, Steve Hosmer, William Rosenau, and John Gordon. And Peter Crowley educated me on the finer points of Alexander the Great’s incursion into Afghanistan.

Several key people served behind the scenes but had extraordinary input in the book. One of the most significant was Tom Mayer, my editor, who put the manuscript through a grist mill and turned the research and ideas into something digestible. My agent, Eric Lupfer, was patient, tirelessly helpful, and excited from the beginning about the book. Kathleen Brandes copyedited the book from her perch in Spruce Head, Maine, not far from my undergraduate alma mater. Don Rifkin and Devon Zahn gave the book careful attention and should be applauded for getting this complicated project done under tight deadlines. My assistants, Nathan Chandler and Joya Laha, were extraordinarily helpful throughout the research, writing, and editing phases.

The book would not have been possible without the ability to interview a range of policymakers, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Comptroller and Under Secretary of Defense Dov Zakheim, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlin, CIA Station Chief in Islamabad Robert Grenier, CIA Station Chief in Afghanistan Graham Fuller, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan Lieutenant General David Barno, and countless others. I also owe a debt of gratitude to those Afghanistan officials that I interviewed—such as Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, Minister of Interior Ali Jalali, and Afghan Ambassador to the United States Said Jawad—who worked tirelessly for their country during such trying times.

One of the most fruitful parts of the book was presenting drafts and ideas to a range of academic and U.S. government audiences, as well as those from foreign countries and international organizations. Within the United States, I gave presentations to audiences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgetown University, New York University, Heritage Foundation, Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security, RAND Corporation, and George Washington University. Students in my summer 2008 Georgetown University course on counterinsurgency were particularly helpful in pointing out problems with the manuscript.

I would also like to thank those individuals who gave me their precious time and energy from the U.S. Department of Defense, State Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, White House, and U.S. intelligence community. Others from Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, United Nations, European Union, and NATO were also generous with their time and knowledge. Many requested that I not thank them by name, so they remain anonymous.

Finally, I would like to thank my family. My parents (Alec and Sethaly) and three brothers (Alex, Josh, and Clark) have been supportive during the writing process and jumped to my wife’s defense whenever I had to travel to Afghanistan or other war-torn places. I owe a particularly heartfelt debt of gratitude to my wife, Suzanne, and daughters, Elizabeth and Alexandra. They have been my daily solace and joy, and I dedicate this book to them.