In this landmark work, Jonathan Schroden captures the complete history of US counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan.

Beginning with the United States' overthrow of the Taliban government in 2001 and ending with the Taliban's overthrow of the US-backed government twenty years later, Schroden describes the creation, evolution, operations, and results of US and Afghan special operations task forces designed to counter al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Islamic State in Afghanistan.

Building on existing scholarly research into US counter-terror operations, this book also features analysis of memoirs, news and investigative reporting, official US government accounts and documents, as well as interviews with key leaders of US counter-terrorism units and operations in Afghanistan. The result is a complete, detailed, nuanced, and objective understanding of the goals, approaches, and results of US counter-terrorism operations during its war in Afghanistan.