In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan (60 page)

9.
On the role of tribes, see Shahmahmood Miakhel, “The Importance of Tribal Structures and Pakhtunwali in Afghanistan: Their Role in Security and Governance,” in Arpita Basu Roy, ed.,
Challenges and Dilemmas of State-Building in in Afghanistan: Report of a Study Trip to Kabul
(Delhi: Shipra Publications, 2008), pp. 97–110; David Kilcullen,
The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 39–114.

10.
Asia Foundation,
Afghanistan in 2008: A Survey of the Afghan People
(Kabul and San Francisco: Asia Foundation, 2008).

11.
Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf and Mark Adkin,
Afghanistan—The Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower
(Havertown, PA: Casemate, 2001), p. 64.

12.
Hans J. Morgenthau,
Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1963), p. 186.

13.
Norman Davies,
God’s Playground: A History of Poland in Two Volumes
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).

14.
Author interview with Ambassador Ronald Neumann, September 7, 2007.

Afterword

1.
Author interview with U.S. Army soldier, September 17, 2009.

2.
Author interview with White House official, November 2009.

3.
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.

4.
Steven Simon, “Can the Right War Be Won? Defining American Interests in Afghanistan,”
Foreign Affairs
, vol. 88, no. 4, July/August 2009, p. 134. Also see, for example, Rory Stewart, “How to Save Afghanistan,”
Time
, July 17, 2008.

5.
Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson, “Afghanistan: How Much is Enough?”
Survival
, vol. 51, no. 5, October–November 2009, pp. 47–68.

6.
John J. Mearsheimer, “Hollow Victory,”
Foreign Policy
, November 2, 2009.

7.
Letter from Matthew Hoh to Ambassador Nancy J. Powell, September 10, 2009.

8.
Author interview with U.S. army soldier, November 5, 2009.

9.
Memorandum from Investigating Officer to Commander, Combined Joint Task Force—101, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Subject: AR 15-6 Investigation Findings and Recommendations—Vehicle Patrol Base (VPB) Wanat Complex Attack and Casualties, 13 July 2008, August 13, 2008.

10.
“Haqqani Says No Use of Negotiations; Vows to Defeat ‘Crusaders’ in Afghanistan,” in the 30th issue of
Al-Samud
monthly magazine, December 2008. The magazine was published on the Hanin Net Web site at www.hanein.info/vb.

11.
Author interviews with British, Pakistani, and Afghan government officials, April and May 2009.

12.
Author interviews with NATO government officials, September 2009.

13.
Author interview with U.S. intelligence official, November 2009.

14.
GEO TV (Pakistan) interview of Shaykh Mustafa Abu al-Yazid (aka Shaykh Saeed), June 21, 2008.

15.
See, for example, Stephen Biddle, “Is it Worth It?”
American Interest
, July–August 2009, vol. 4, no. 6.

16.
Steve Coll, “The Case for Humility in Afghanistan,”
Foreign Policy
, October 16, 2009.

17.
Author interview with Taliban commander, April 2009.

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.