ADST-DACOR Diplomats and Diplomacy Book
The Other War
Winning and Losing in Afghanistan
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by
Ronald E. Neumann
Washington, DC:
Potomac Books, November 2009
"From Vietnam combat soldier to Iraq and Afghanistan combat diplomat, Ron Neumann has seen, if not all, then most of it. In his first-person account of his time in Kabul, he recounts the possibilities and pitfalls of 'armed nation building.'
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The Other War: Winning and Losing in Afghanistan is Ronald E. Neumann's account of how the war in Afghanistan unfolded in the two years after he arrived in Kabul from Baghdad in July 2005 as the United States ambassador. A career diplomat,
Ambassador Neumann brought to the job a lifetime's professional experience in the greater Middle East, retiring thirty-eight years after he had begun in the same country--Afghanistan. With previously unexamined details of operations, tensions, and
policy decisions, Ron Neumann demonstrates why the United States was slow to recognize the challenge it faced and why it failed to make the requisite commitment of resources. Recounting failures as well as successes, he analyzes the problems of
alliance warfare in conducting simultaneous nation building and counterinsurgency.
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Ambassador Neumann has written an extraordinarily important account of U.S. efforts in Afghanistan during his tenure in Kabul. The book is unmatched in its rich description, frank analysis, and lucid recommendations--and should be required reading
for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of American's involvment in Afghanistan.
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Neumann lends his old-world intellect and curiosity to this fascinating insider account of the American struggle to rebuild Afghanistan while coping
with the U.S. bureaucratic machine...[A] deeply insightful and thoughtful book, at times amusing and always frank.
" "
In this engaging firsthand history of recent events in Afghanistan, the veteran American diplomat reminds policymakers that grand strategies
only work when the tactical details have been worked out on the ground.
" ADST
256 pp, map
Cloth $27.50 (Members' Price $23.00)
RICHARD ARMITAGE, former Deputy Secretary of State and Assistant Secretary of Defense:
SETH G. JONES, author of In the Graveyard of Empires: American's War in Afghanistan:
Other Reviews
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Copyright 2011, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training
