You’ve got a Kindle.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer – no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle Cloud Reader.
Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Enter your mobile phone or email address
By pressing "Send link", you agree to Amazon's Conditions of Use.
You consent to receive an automated text message from or on behalf of Amazon about the Kindle App at your mobile number above. Consent is not a condition of any purchase. Message and data rates may apply.
Follow the Author
OK
In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War In Afghanistan Paperback – Illustrated, March 30 2010
| Seth G. Jones (Author) Find all the books, read about the author and more. See search results for this author |
| Amazon Price | New from | Used from |
|
Kindle Edition
"Please retry" | — | — |
|
Audible Audiobook, Unabridged
"Please retry" |
$0.00
| Free with your Audible trial | |
|
Audio CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged
"Please retry" | $34.95 | — |
After the swift defeat of the Taliban in 2001, American optimism has steadily evaporated in the face of mounting violence; a new “war of a thousand cuts” has now brought the country to its knees. In the Graveyard of Empires is a political history of Afghanistan in the “Age of Terror” from 2001 to 2009, exploring the fundamental tragedy of America’s longest war since Vietnam.
After a brief survey of the great empires in Afghanistan—the campaigns of Alexander the Great, the British in the era of Kipling, and the late Soviet Union—Seth G. Jones examines the central question of our own war: how did an insurgency develop? Following the September 11 attacks, the United States successfully overthrew the Taliban regime. It established security throughout the country—killing, capturing, or scattering most of al Qa’ida’s senior operatives—and Afghanistan finally began to emerge from more than two decades of struggle and conflict. But Jones argues that as early as 2001 planning for the Iraq War siphoned off resources and talented personnel, undermining the gains that had been made. After eight years, he says, the United States has managed to push al Qa’ida’s headquarters about one hundred miles across the border into Pakistan, the distance from New York to Philadelphia.
While observing the tense and often adversarial relationship between NATO allies in the Coalition, Jones—who has distinguished himself at RAND and was recently named by Esquire as one of the “Best and Brightest” young policy experts—introduces us to key figures on both sides of the war. Harnessing important new research and integrating thousands of declassified government documents, Jones then analyzes the insurgency from a historical and structural point of view, showing how a rising drug trade, poor security forces, and pervasive corruption undermined the Karzai government, while Americans abandoned a successful strategy, failed to provide the necessary support, and allowed a growing sanctuary for insurgents in Pakistan to catalyze the Taliban resurgence.
Examining what has worked thus far—and what has not—this serious and important book underscores the challenges we face in stabilizing the country and explains where we went wrong and what we must do if the United States is to avoid the disastrous fate that has befallen many of the great world powers to enter the region.
- Print length464 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWW Norton
- Publication dateMarch 30 2010
- Dimensions14.22 x 2.29 x 21.08 cm
- ISBN-100393338517
- ISBN-13978-0393338515
Product description
Review
This is a serious work that should be factored in as a new policy in Afghanistan evolves.—Jay Freeman, Booklist
Seth G. Jones’s book provides a vivid sense of just how paltry and misguided the American effort has been.… In the Graveyard of Empires will help to show what might still be done to build something enduring in Afghanistan and finally allow the U.S. to go home. —Dexter Filkins, The New Republic
[An] excellent book.—James Blitz, Financial Times
How we got to where we are in Afghanistan.—Matthew Kaminski, Wall Street Journal
[Zeroes] in on what went awry after America’s successful routing of the Taliban in late 2001.—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
A blueprint for winning in a region that has historically brought mighty armies to their knees.—Doug Childers, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Offers a valuable window onto how officials have understood the military campaign.—Robert D. Crews, San Francisco Chronicle
Seth Jones . . . has an anthropologist’s feel for a foreign society, a historian’s intuition for long-term trends, and a novelist’s eye for the telling details that illuminate a much larger story. If you read just one book about the Taliban, terrorism, and the United States, this is the place to start.—Jeremi Suri, author of Henry Kissinger and the American Century
A timely and important work, without peer in terms of both its scholarship and the author’s intimate knowledge of the country, the insurgency threatening it, and the challenges in defeating it.—Bruce Hoffman, Georgetown University, author of Inside Terrorism
A deeply researched and well-analyzed account of the failures of American policies in Afghanistan, In the Graveyard of Empires will be mandatory reading for policymakers from Washington to Kabul. —Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc. and The Osama bin Laden I Know
Seth Jones has combined forceful narrative with careful analysis, illustrating the causes of this deteriorating situation, and recommending sensible, feasible steps to reverse the escalating violence.—James Dobbins, author of After the Taliban: Nation Building in Afghanistan
From the Back Cover
About the Author
Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Product details
- Publisher : WW Norton; Illustrated edition (March 30 2010)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 464 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0393338517
- ISBN-13 : 978-0393338515
- Item weight : 373 g
- Dimensions : 14.22 x 2.29 x 21.08 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: #316,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #193 in Afghan History
- #406 in International Security (Books)
- #568 in Terrorism (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Seth G. Jones is a senior vice president, Harold Brown Chair, and director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He teaches at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. Prior to joining CSIS, Dr. Jones was the director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation. Previously, he served as representative for the commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, to the assistant secretary of defense for special operations. He was also a plans officer and adviser to the commanding general, U.S. Special Operations Forces, in Afghanistan (Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command–Afghanistan). Dr. Jones is a graduate of Bowdoin College and received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
Customer reviews
Top reviews from other countries
On the bright side the book does include some of the major events of the current US led mission in Afghanistan. So in essence, had you not followed the conflict, this saves you from going through a pile of newspaper articles to get up to speed. In addition Jones did have access to lots of not widely publically available sources and there is the occasional useful piece of information included.
Unfortunately that is about as far as the good aspects of the book go. The first serious issue is a grave lack of understanding of the historical background on the author's part - even books such as Feifer's The Great Gamble: The Soviet War in Afghanistan , which follow first hand accounts of the war there and are not supposed to provide analysis beyond that do a vastly better job of portraying the background. Jones on several occasions even praises Elphinstone (the British commander in the first Anglo-Afghan war) as an experienced statesman and soldier - what next, the Charge of the Light Cavalry Brigade being the most brilliant military maneuvre? Even the Russian invasion, which in many ways is a very relevant field to analyse in light of the current conflict, is handled so superficially (with many mistaken conclusions drawn) as to elicit a groan from anyone who has even a basic understanding - it appears the author took the approach of 'history starts now'.
When it comes to the current conflict, the situation sadly does not improve. There is plenty of citing of various sources but no analysis. Like a poor Master's thesis it is a list of what various people said on a given subject, without attempting to compare the sources, build a list of proper hypotheses and testing them. This would not be strictly necessary, had the author not promised a serious analysis and confirming a theory of his upfront. Conflicting data is not put into context, the approach is never critical - basically it is a collection of excerpts of interview transcripts, making sure never to contradict what the interviewees say.
On top of that the author fails to differentiate between the essential and important aspects, and those which are relatively trivial. This makes the book a very hardgoing read - it seems that for every sentence of the story there is almost a paragraph of unnecessary explanation. I know that the author is trying to draw in the reader but in my opinion he fails badly. One finds out more about which baseball team the majority of protagonists support and why than about how most military operations went - these seem to be classified as successful just because they happened or because someone participated, irrespective of the objectives achieved.
Not having read any of the author's other books I cannot say if this is a rare departure from form, or par for the course but you can do much better, when trying to understand the conflict in Afghanistan than this book. In terms of decision making issues and problems, Dixon's On the Psychology of Military Incompetence (Pimlico) and Janis' Group Think are a good start; specifically for Afghanistan Feifer's The Great Gamble: The Soviet War in Afghanistan will give a better view both of the Russian and subsequent American decision making processes and failures. In terms of more specific military operations, something like The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan (Soviet (Russian) Study of War) will be very good. Even populist journalists like Sholl-Latour ( Weltmacht im Treibsand: Bush gegen die Ayatollahs ) seem to do a better job than Jones has in this book.
This book should be read in conjunction with "Descent into Chaos" by Ahmed Rashid for a fuller picture of the failures in Afghanistan.