Carter Malkasian, Special Assistant for Strategy to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (General Joseph Dunford), from 2015 to 2019.

Carter Malkasian was the Special Assistant for Strategy to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, from 2015 to 2019. He has extensive experience working in Afghanistan through multiple deployments throughout the country. The highlight of his work is nearly two years in Garmser district, Helmand province, Afghanistan, as a State Department political officer and the district stabilization team leader. He is the author of War Comes to Garmser: Thirty Years of Conflict on the Afghan Frontier (Oxford University Press) and Illusions of Victory: The Anbar Awakening and the Rise of the Islamic State (Oxford). He has a doctorate in history from Oxford and is fluent in Pashto.

Winner, 2023 Society for Military History Distinguished Book Awards, American Military History category

"Malkasian offers a nonpareil history of a war that initially was viewed as one of necessity but increasingly became one of choice. His book sets the standard for all future works that will examine the causes and nature of yet another unhappy American military adventure on the mainland of Asia." -- Dov S. Zakheim, Senior Advisor at CSIS and a Vice Chairman of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, PRISM

"This substantial text is well written and supported by almost 100 pages of notes and references. Offering a rather complete overview of the US failure, this is a must read for anyone interested in the mistakes made in Afghanistan." -- G. M. Farr, CHOICE

"The book allows Afghans to tell their own story, and their voices are present throughout. The author spent significant amounts of time in Afghanistan and communicated with all strata of society, and as a result this book is one of the very few that is truly authoritative on the subject ... it will become a valuable addition to the academic literature on Afghanistan by giving space to Afghans' voice and agency within its rigorous academic research structure." -- Georgi Asatryan and Jack Kalpakian, International Affairs

"Penetrating...estimable...a broad-reaching and quietly authoritative overview of U.S. involvement, from 9/11 onward. [Malkasian] is good on military operations...No less important, he enlightens us on the Afghan part of the story - on the tribal system and its variations; on the forbidding geography, so vital in the fighting; on the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and his decision-making; on the complex and ever-shifting relationships between the government of Hamid Karzai and the warlords in the provinces."--Fredrik Logevall, The New York Times Book Review

"A full an authoritative account of US involvement in Afghanistan...Malkasian combines meticulous scholarship with a practitioner's eye." --Foreign Affairs

"A sweeping history of the 20-year encounter between Americans and Afghans...Malkasian is drawn to two conflicting, but not irreconcilable, themes: American officials made a series of colossal errors that continually frustrated their own goals, and the Taliban probably would have returned to power even if the foreigners had gotten things right. Perhaps both are true." --Foreign Policy

"A powerful new book." -- Fareed Zakaria, The Washington Post

"[A] comprehensive history of the longest armed conflict in US history...Malkasian gives a blow-by-blow of American phases of the war...A sweeping, deeply researched account that will gratify specialists and nonspecialists alike." -- Kirkus, Starred Review

"A rigorous, blow-by-blow chronicle of the US war in Afghanistan...Synthesizing a vast array of literature from both sides of the conflict, including Oval Office transcripts and Taliban war poetry, Malkasian gets deep into the weeds, but offers a refreshingly nuanced and well-informed perspective. Foreign policy wonks will savor this comprehensive reckoning with America's 'forever war'." -- Publishers Weekly