“Michael Walling has honored the American men and women who served in Operation Enduring Freedom by helping them tell their own stories. This is the war in Afghanistan as experienced by the people who fought it.” - General Tommy R. Franks, Ret. The war in Afghanistan has seen men and women thrown into America's longest sustained combat operation. For over 13 years, US military personnel have been embroiled in a conflict unlike any other, in a hostile country where danger and death lurk at every turn. The nature of the fighting has transformed not only the entire structure of the US military, but the lives of every soldier, sailor, marine, coast guardsman, and airman who served there. There have been many tales told of this most recent Afghan war, but until now no single work has combined the strategic view of high-level commanders with the perspective of soldiers on the ground. This book places the first-hand accounts of serving men and women into the context of the military operations. Drawing on gripping oral histories from theater commanders, Special Forces troops, reconstruction teams, and everyday soldiers, Michael G. Walling analyzes operations as they were experienced by individuals, from those immediately following 9/11 through to those in 2014 as US troops prepared to withdraw. He also charts the evolution of US military structure as it was forced to adapt to cope with the non-conventional, but nonetheless deadly threats of asymmetric warfare, as well as detailing covert ops, infrastructure rebuilding, and the training of Afghan forces. Resonating across gender, age, nationality, and ethnicity, this book is not just a document of US fortunes in a far-flung conflict. It is a tribute to the determination, heroism, sacrifice, and the strength of the human spirit.

“Michael Walling has honored the American men and women who served in Operation Enduring Freedom by helping them tell their own stories. This is the war in Afghanistan as experienced by the people who fought it.” - General Tommy R. Franks, Ret. The war in Afghanistan has seen men and women thrown into America's longest sustained combat operation. For over 13 years, US military personnel have been embroiled in a conflict unlike any other, in a hostile country where danger and death lurk at every turn. The nature of the fighting has transformed not only the entire structure of the US military, but the lives of every soldier, sailor, marine, coast guardsman, and airman who served there. There have been many tales told of this most recent Afghan war, but until now no single work has combined the strategic view of high-level commanders with the perspective of soldiers on the ground. This book places the first-hand accounts of serving men and women into the context of the military operations. Drawing on gripping oral histories from theater commanders, Special Forces troops, reconstruction teams, and everyday soldiers, Michael G. Walling analyzes operations as they were experienced by individuals, from those immediately following 9/11 through to those in 2014 as US troops prepared to withdraw. He also charts the evolution of US military structure as it was forced to adapt to cope with the non-conventional, but nonetheless deadly threats of asymmetric warfare, as well as detailing covert ops, infrastructure rebuilding, and the training of Afghan forces. Resonating across gender, age, nationality, and ethnicity, this book is not just a document of US fortunes in a far-flung conflict. It is a tribute to the determination, heroism, sacrifice, and the strength of the human spirit.

September 11, 2001 Two young men on opposite sides of the world One war that will change their lives forever Baheer, a studious Afghan teen, sees his family’s life turned upside down when they lose their livelihood as war rocks the country. A world away, Joe, a young American army private, has to put aside his dreams of becoming a journalist when he’s shipped out to Afghanistan. When Joe’s unit arrives in Baheer’s town, Baheer is wary of the Americans, but sees an opportunity: Not only can he practice his English with the soldiers, his family can make money delivering their supplies. At first, Joe doesn’t trust Baheer, or any of the locals, but Baheer keeps showing up. As Joe and Baheer get to know each other, to see each other as individuals, they realize they have a lot more in common than they ever could have realized. But can they get past the deep differences in their lives and beliefs to become true friends and allies? Enduring Freedom is a moving and enlightening novel about how ignorance can tear us apart and how education and understanding can bring us back together. "Through Baheer, readers ages 12 and older will gain some understanding of life under the Taliban; of the concussive shock of 9/11 as felt in Central Asia; of Afghans’ varied responses to the American invasion; and most of all the transformative promise of schooling. Through Joe, an aspiring journalist, readers experience not only the throb of post-9/11patriotism but also the tedium, camaraderie and sudden terrors of soldiery in a war zone." --The Wall Street Journal

From GPO Bookstore: Contains an anthology of sixteen oral histories that chronicle the establishment of Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan. Includes a lengthy interview with Lt. Gen. David W. Barno, the first commander of the new headquarters, in which he discusses the strategic challenges of Afghanistan, the coordination of political and military efforts by his command, and the development and implementation of a counterinsurgency strategy that considered the complexity of the Afghan insurgency.

Background : "Operation Enduring Freedom" -- Violations by U.S. forces -- International legal context -- Conclusions -- Recommendations -- Appendix : U.S. criticisms of mistreatment and torture practices -- Acknowledgments.