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

18. Hanin Net Web site, www.hanein.info/vb, December 2008.

19. Taliban (Afghanistan) press release, “Code of Conduct,” Voice of Jihad, August 6, 2009. The author received a copy of the press release from a Taliban contact.

20. Taliban (Afghanistan) press release, Voice of Jihad, April 29, 2009. The author received a copy of the press release from a Taliban contact.

21. La’iha, May 9, 2009. The La’iha, or code of conduct, is the Taliban’s comprehensive set of rules and regulations governing Taliban activity in Afghanistan.

22. Author interviews with Paktia tribal leaders, October 2009.

23. Memorandum from Stanley A. McChrystal to the Honorable Robert M. Gates, Subject: COMISAF’s Initial Assessment, Reference: Secretary of Defense Memorandum 26 June 2009, August 30, 2009, p. 1-1.

24. Author interview with senior U.S. military official, October 2009.

25. See, for example, Faisal Aziz, “Fear Grows of U.S. Strikes in Pakistan’s Baluchistan,” Reuters, October 12, 2009.

26. Author interview with Afghanistan cabinet minister, November 2009.

27. See, for example, James Dobbins et al., America’s Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2003).

28. See, for example, Louis Dupree, Afghanistan (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997); M. Nazif Shahrani and Robert L. Canfield, eds., Revolutions and Rebellions in Afghanistan: Anthropological Perspectives (Berkeley: Institute of International Studies, University of California, 1984); David B. Edwards, Before Taliban: Genealogies of the Afghan Jihad (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002).

29. Author interview with Kandahar tribal leader, October 2009.

30. Author interview with senior U.S. State Department official, June 2009.

31. Mohammad Ehsan Zia, “Thoughts on a National Police Force,” November 2009. The author received a copy of the piece from the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development.

32. Author interview with Minister of Interior Mohammad Hanif Atmar, September 2009.

Table of Contents

ALSO BY SETH G. JONES

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

CONTENTS

List of Maps and Graphs

Chronology

Photographic Insert

Introduction

1. Descent into Violence

2. The Mujahideen Era

3. Uncivil War

4. The Rise of the Taliban

5. Al Qa’ida’s Strategic Alliance

6. Operation Enduring Freedom

7. Light Footprint

8. Early Successes

9. The Logic of Insurgency

10. Collapse of Law and Order

11. A Growing Cancer

12. The Perfect Storm

13. A Three-Front War

14. National Caveats

15. The Water Must Boil

16. Al Qa’ida: A Force Multiplier

17. In the Eye of the Storm

18. Back to the Future

Afterword

Acknowledgments

Notes