Search results for ""author peter bergen""

In The Longest WarPeter Bergen offers a comprehensive history of the war on terror and its evolution, from the strategies devised in the wake of the 9/11 attacks to the fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and beyond. Unlike any other book on this subject, Bergen tells the story of this shifting war's failures and successes from both the perspective of the United States and al-Qaeda and its allies. He goes into the homes of al-Qaeda members, rooting into the source of their devotion to terrorist causes, and he spends time in the offices of the major players shaping the U.S. strategic efforts in the region. At a time when many are frustrated or fatigued with what has become an enduring multigenerational conflict, this book will provide an illuminating narrative that not only traces the arc of the fight, but projects its likely future. At a critical moment in world history The Longest Warprovides the definitive account of the ongoing battle against terror.

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In the last decade, America's priorities have changed. National security has become the primary concern for citizens and a top priority for government officials. Billions of dollars have been spent fighting the war on terror, and millions more have been spent by private citizens around the globe trying to understand how we got here. Investigative journalist and bestselling author of Holy War, Inc. and The Osama bin Laden I Know Peter Bergen is the authority who can answer that question. One of few Westerners to ever sit down with Osama bin Laden, Bergen is renowned for his analysis of al Qaeda and its evolution over the last decade. Now, he is breaking the story open in a way that readers have never seen before. Bergen picks up where Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower leaves off. He reveals the details of how al Qaeda has evolved since the 9/11 attacks, and tells the parallel story of how the U.S. government has changed its own course in response. Bergen has unprecedented insight that comes through many channels: internal documents from both al Qaeda and U.S. counterterrorism offices, in person interviews with al Qaeda members of the highest and lowest ranks, hundreds of interviews conducted with senior officials in the White House, Pentagon, CIA and the FBI, and his own experiences on the ground in Afghanistan. A Very Long War will be the definitive account of the war on terror--its failures and successes, the major players, and its likely future.

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Grappling with centuries-old feuds, defeating a shrewd insurgency, and navigating the sometimes paralyzing bureaucracy of the U.S. military are issues that prompt sleepless nights for both policymakers in Washington, DC and soldiers at war, albeit for different reasons. Few, however, have dealt with these issues in the White House situation room and on the front line. Michael G. Waltz has done just that, working as a policy advisor to Vice President Richard B. Cheney and also serving in the mountains of Afghanistan as a Green Beret, directly implementing strategy in the field that he helped devise in Washington. In Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret’s Battles from Washington to Afghanistan, Waltz shares his unique firsthand experiences, revealing the sights, sounds, emotions, and complexities involved in the war in Afghanistan. Waltz highlights the policy issues that plagued the war effort, from the drug trade to civilian casualties, to a lack of resources in comparison to Iraq, to the overall coalition strategy. He points out that stabilizing Afghanistan and the region remains crucial to national security and that a long-term commitment to Afghanistan is imperative if the United States is to remain secure.

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Proxy warfare will shape the conflicts of the twenty-first century for the foreseeable future. Yet the popular understanding of proxy wars remains largely shaped by the experience of the Cold War. In reality, in the Greater Middle East and its periphery today, the growing power of regional states and non-state actors, combined with the proliferation of new technology, has reshaped proxy conflicts, in an increasingly multipolar and interconnected environment. In this collected volume, a range of researchers examine what constitutes proxy warfare and provide new insight into how these wars are waged, in contexts stretching from Ukraine to North Africa and Syria to Afghanistan. The volume draws upon research, surveys and interviews conducted in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Ukraine, as well as examining the propaganda output of those involved in these countries' wars. In doing so, 'Understanding the New Proxy Wars' helps reveal both the continuities and the differences between recent conflicts and those of times past.

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