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

S/2007/677, p. 8.

41. United States of America. v. Hassan Abujihaad, a/k/ a Paul R. Hall, Abu-Jihaad, United States District Court, District of Connecticut, No. 3:07-CR-57, Exhibit 2, Federal Bureau of Investigation FD- 302 of William “Jamaal” Chrisman. Interview conducted December 2, 2006.

42. Statement from Mullah Omar, Leader of the Taliban, released December 17, 2007.

43. United States of America v. Babar Ahmad, United States District Court, District of Connecticut, No. 3:04-CR-301-MRK, Indictment, Filed October 6, 2004.

44. United States of America v. Syed Talha Ahsan, United States District Court, District of Connecticut, No. 3:06-CR-194-JCH, Indictment. Also see United States of America. v. Hassan Abujihaad, a/k/a Paul R. Hall, Abu-Jihaad, United States District Court, District of Connecticut, No. 3:07-CR-57, Indictment.

45. Author interviews with European, Afghan, and Pakistani government officials, Kabul, Afghanistan 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. Also see Ali Jalali, “The Future of Afghanistan,” Parameters, vol. 36, no. 1, Spring 2006, p. 8.

46. Author interviews with U.S. government officials in Shkin, Afghanistan, April 2006. Al Jazeera interview with Mullah Dadullah, July 2005. Also see such press accounts as Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau, “Unholy Allies,” Newsweek, September 26, 2005, pp. 40–42.

47. In what appeared to be a forced confession, Saeed Allah Khan stated: “I worked as a spy for the Americans along with four other people. The group received $45,000 and my share is $7,000.” Hekmat Karzai, Afghanistan and the Globalisation of Terrorist Tactics (Singapore: Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, January 2006), p. 2.

48. Author interview with U.S. government officials, Kabul, Afghanistan, December 2005.

49. On the rationale for suicide bombers, see Al Jazeera interview with Mullah Dadullah, February 2006.

50. Zawahiri, Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner, p. 200.

51. C. Christine Fair et al., Suicide Attacks in Afghanistan, 2001–2007 (Kabul: United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, September 2007), p. 10.

52. Hekmat Karzai, Afghanistan and the Logic of Suicide Terrorism (Singapore: Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, March 2006); “Taliban Claim Responsibility for Suicide Bomb Attack in Afghan Kandahar Province,” Afghan Islamic Press, October 9, 2005; “Pajhwok News Describes Video of Afghan Beheading by ‘Masked Arabs,’ Taliban,” Kabul Pajhwok Afghan News, October 9, 2005; “Canadian Soldier Dies in Suicide Attack in Kandahar,” Afghan Islamic Press, March 3, 2006; “Taliban Claim Attack on Police in Jalalabad, Nangarhar Province,” Kabul National TV, January 7, 2006.

53. See, for example, Robert Pape, Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism (New York: Random House, 2005); Mia Bloom, Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005); Christoph Reuter, My Life Is a Weapon: A Modern History of Suicide Bombing (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004); Hoffman, Inside Terrorism.

54. Hekmat Karzai and Seth G. Jones, “How to Curb Rising Suicide Terrorism in Afghanistan,” Christian Science Monitor, July 18, 2006.

55. In its public rhetoric, the Taliban tended to identify the suicide bombers as Afghans, since it suggested there was a significant indigenous component of the insurgency.

56. Fair et al., Suicide Attacks in Afghanistan, p. 28.

Chapter Seventeen

1. Author interview with Commander Larry Legree, June 10, 2008.

2. Asia Foundation, Afghanistan in 2008: A Survey of the Afghan People (Kabul and San Francisco: Asia Foundation, 2008).

3. Author interview with Colonel Martin Schweitzer, March 7, 2008.

4. Colin Soloway, “I Yelled at Them to Stop,” Newsweek, October 7, 2002; Hy S. Rothstein, Afghanistan and the Troubled Future of Unconventional Warfare (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2006), pp. 141–42.

5. Author interview with Colonel Martin Schweitzer, March 7, 2008.

6. Roger Trinquier, Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency, translated by Daniel Lee (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006), p. 6.

7. Author interview with Commander Larry Legree, March 8, 2008; author interview with Colonel Martin Schweitzer, March 7, 2008.

8. Author interview with Colonel Martin Schweitzer, March 7, 2008.

9. British Government, Afghanistan: Countering the Insurgency RC(E) vs. RC (S) Comparative Approaches, May 12, 2008.

10. The quote is from Bruce Hoffman and Seth G. Jones, “Cell Phones in the Hindu Kush,” The National Interest, No. 96, July/August 2008.

11. International Security Assistance Force, ISAF Campaign Plan (Kabul: ISAF, November 2008).

12. Trinquier, Modern Warfare, p. 6.

13. Prior to the establishment of the first Provincial Reconstruction Teams, Coalition Humanitarian Liaison Cells and U.S. Army Civil Affairs Teams—Afghanistan supported humanitarian assistance, relief, and reconstruction efforts throughout Afghanistan. These began in 2002.

14. Robert Borders, “Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan: A Model for Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development,” Journal of Development and Social Transformation, vol. 1, November 2004, pp. 5–12; Michael J. McNerney, “Stabilization and Reconstruction in Afghanistan: Are PRTs a Model or a Muddle?” Parameters, vol. 35, no. 4, Winter 2005–06, pp. 32–46.

15. Author interview with Commander Larry Legree, June 10, 2008.

16. McNerney, “Stabilization and Reconstruction in Afghanistan,” p. 40.

17. Trent Scott and John Agoglia, “Getting the Basics Right: A Discussion on Tactical Actions for Strategic Impact in Afghanistan,” Small Wars Journal, November 2008; author interview with John Agoglia, November 13, 2008.

18. Author interview with Michelle Parker, August 15, 2007.

19. Author interviews with NATO officials involved in the meetings, Kabul, Afghanistan, May 2008.

20. Author interview with senior NATO intelligence official, November 13, 2008.

21. J. Alexander Thier and Azita Ranjbar, Killing Friends, Making Enemies: The Impact and Avoidance of Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, July 2008); Human Rights Watch, “Troops in Contact”: Airstrikes and Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan (New York: Human Rights Watch, September 2008).

22. Trista Talton and Robert Burns, “Probe: Spec Ops Marines Used Excessive Force,” Marine Corps Times, April 13, 2007. Also see Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Investigation: Use of Indiscriminate and Excessive Force against Civilians by U.S. Forces Following a VBIED Attack in Nangarhar Province on 4 March 2007 (Kabul: Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, 2007).

23. Josh White, “69 Afghans’ Families Get a U.S. Apology,” Washington Post, May 9, 2007, p. A12.

24. Memorandum from Brigadier General Michael W. Callan to Acting Commander, United States Central Command, Subject: Executive Summary of AR 15-6 Investigation into new information relative to civilian casualties from engagement by U.S. and Afghan Forces on 21–22 AUG 2008 in Azizabad, Shindand District, Herat Province, Afghanistan, October 1, 2008.

25. Statement by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Kai Eide, on Civilian Casualties Caused by Military Operations in Shindand District of Herat Province, August 26, 2008.

26. Jon Boone, “Kabul Accuses Allies of Civilian Deaths,” Financial Times, August 22, 2008.

27. Office of the President, President Karzai Condemns Shindand Incident (Kabul: