"The definitive account of America's heroic but ultimately doomed effort in one of Afghanistan's most rugged regions."-Sebastian Junger, author of Tribe

"A saga of courage and futility, of valor and error and heartbreak."-Rick Atkinson, author of the Liberation Trilogy
When we think of the war in Afghanistan, chances are we're thinking of a small, remote corner of the country where American military action has been concentrated: the Pech and its tributary valleys in Kunar and Nuristan provinces. The rugged, steep terrain and thick forests made the region a natural hiding spot for targets in the American war on terror, from Osama bin Laden to the Islamic State, and it has been the site of constant U.S. military activity for nearly two decades. Even as the U.S. presence in Afghanistan transitions to a drone war, the Pech has remained at the center of it, a testbed for a new method of remote warfare.
Wesley Morgan first visited the Pech...