The Only Thing Worth Dying for: How Eleven Green Berets Forged a New Afghanistan

by Blehm, Eric

• ISBN13: 9780061661228
• ISBN10: 0061661228
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-03-03
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

Eric Blehm cuts through the noise of high-level politicians and generals in Washington, D.C., to narrate the muddy-boots effort that enabled Hamid Karzai, then an obscure statesman, to become the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan. The Only Thing Worth Dying For is the untold tale of ODA 574, a team of highly trained soldiers who carried out the most politically significant mission in Operation Enduring Freedom: protecting Karzai and helping him to stage an insurgency in the Taliban's backyard. It's the story of uncommon bravery and, ultimately, terrible sacrifice, with consequences that will continue to shape Afghanistan and U.S. involvement in the region. With unprecedented access to the surviving members of ODA 574, high-level military planners, and Karzai himself, Blehm intimately exposes the realities of unconventional warfare and nation-building in Afghanistan during the three months after September 11, 2001.

Table of Contents

Prologue	p. 1
A Most Dangerous Mission	p. 3
The Quiet Professionals	p. 21
To War	p. 47
The Soldier and the Statesman	p. 67
The Taliban Patrol	p. 95
The Battle of Tarin Kowt	p. 111
Credibility	p. 139
Madness	p. 161
Death on the Horizon	p. 201
The Ruins	p. 233
The Thirteenth Sortie	p. 259
Futility	p. 283
Rescue at Shawali Kowt	p. 299
Worth Dying For	p. 321
Epilogue	p. 341
Map of Tarin Kowt	p. 352
Map of Shawali Kowt	p. 354
Acknowledgments	p. 357
Selected Bibliography	p. 363
Notes	p. 367
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