Overview

In 2013, President Obama began the drawdown of troops in Afghanistan. But only a year into the withdrawal, Obama began allowing the U.S. military to resume combat operations, relying almost entirely on U.S. Special Operations forces. It was the beginning of a new, covert war. Reporter Jessica Donati shows how policy shifted, and argues that the war is undermining American interests both at home and abroad. It is eroding morale among America's most elite and most important forces and widening the disconnect between the military and the general public. This covert war fought by U.S. Special Forces is not fought as a nation, but as a secretive tool of policy. With big picture insight and on-the-ground grit, Donati argues that U.S. foreign policy and reliance upon covert warfare is allowing Afghanistan to continue as a safe-haven for extremist groups, and become more susceptible to foreign powers like China and Russia. As Afghanistan becomes more unstable, America will continue to fight a full-blown war with no end in sight.

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9781541762558

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Reviews

Donati's on-the-ground account-and it's clear that she put herself in constant danger to tell the soldiers' stories even as American officials dithered about how to deploy those troops-is sometimes as hallucinatory as Dispatches and as taut and well written as Mark Bowden's now-classic book...Exemplary journalism and a powerful argument for not putting soldiers in harm's way unless we're sure we know why. --Kirkus Reviews, starred review This book takes you from the Special Forces soldiers on the front lines in Afghanistan to the corridors of power in Washington D.C. where politicians and military leaders far removed from the battlefield make decisions impacting the fate of a nation and the lives of those who step up to wear the uniform. In a powerful book that is equally inspiring and tragic, Eagle Down reminds us that the true cost of war is always paid, not just by those who raise their right hands to defend the nation, but by their families whose resilience in the face of overwhelming adversity is a true testament to the American spirit. --Jack Carr, Former Navy Seal and New York Times?bestselling author of The Terminal List and Savage Son The book hits its mark in its sympathetic portrayal of the boots on the ground, in particular the Special Forces and Green Berets of Operational Detachment Alpha. Their frustrations at the human costs, from deaths to homesickness to mission futility, will resonate with readers. --Booklist Skillfully interweaving big-picture policy analysis with frontline reporting, Donati shines a stark light on this shadowy conflict. The result is a distressing yet vital update on America's longest war. --Publishers Weekly In this courageous, moving account, Jessica Donati shows us that the war in Afghanistan never really ended--and may keep going. She brings us an unprecedented look into the world of secretive U.S. special operations forces, who continue to fight and die in a war that the American public knows little about. The stories are heartrending and hard to put down. This is the most important book I've read on this latest phase of our never-ending war and Afghanistan's never ending tragedy. --Anand Gopal, author of No Good Men Among the Living Fighting long after the fires of 9/11 had cooled, and most of their nation had lost focus on their fight, these Special Forces soldiers reflect both the courage and cost of combat. An important read to understand that wars don't always end just because we stop watching. --General (Ret) Stan McChrystal, author of Team of Teams Eagle Down is a must-read for anyone interested in American foreign policy. Donati shows how U.S. Special Forces ended up fighting the past few years of the endless forgotten war in Afghanistan with little leadership, muddled orders and few resources--in other words, with no real hope of success, however that's now defined in the war-torn country. Along the way, Donati catalogs the human toll of a conflict that barely registers on Americans, from those killed in action to those seemingly betrayed by their own government. --Kim Barker, author of the best-selling Taliban Shuffle Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, and U.S. Special Forces are one of the most secretive groups in America's military. That Jessica Donati managed to crack both and write a book that is both brutally honest and deeply compassionate about this elite group is a journalistic triumph. It is beautifully written, impossible to put down and deeply terrifying for anyone who has worked in that country. She's one of those writers who makes me deeply proud of my profession. --Sebastian Junger, New York Times best-selling author A sobering story about what was happening behind the scenes as groups of American warriors attempted to carry out their duties in Afghanistan during the waning days of the Obama administration while dealing with an undefined mission, the fog of war, a belief their military leaders didn't support them and Washington politics. Their courage and strength is remarkable to this day. --Cami McCormick, CBS News Correspondent Eagle Down is a powerful, important, and searing - and at times uncomfortable - account of the extraordinary missions our Special Operations Forces have undertaken in Afghanistan in recent years. It captures vividly the challenges, accomplishments, and issues faced by those on the bleeding edge of the latest campaigns. --General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.), former Commander of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and US and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, and former Director of the CIA Donati's book is unflinching in the stories it tells about servicemen participating in an unforgiving war...Featuring often-overlooked perspectives, this is an important read on America's military involvement in Afghanistan. --Library Journal

Jessica Donati deserves a Pulitzer Prize for this extraordinary book about America's continued behind the scenes fighting in Afghanistan's Forever War. --The San Francisco Book Review [Donati's] vivid, uncompromising reporting presents U.S. politicians and senior military commanders as disconnected from the reality of the war as they flounder in search of a satisfactory way out of it. --Foreign Affairs A memorable portrait of Americans fighting in Afghanistan over the last six years. Donati does an especially good job at portraying the combat in Kunduz in October 2015...an important story about limited warfare. --The New York Times Book Review Ultimately this book is about tragedy, the tragedy of loss, the tragedy of bad decisions, and the tragedy of futility. But it is also a book of survival, perseverance and personal strength. More importantly it's a book that doesn't pull any punches. If you are looking for a story that depicts Green Berets as comic book super heroes then you came to the wrong place. If, however, you are looking for an unvarnished depiction of the successes, failures, and losses of men who have put everything on the line for the things they believe in then Eagle Down is for you. --Small Wars Journal Highly enlightening.. [an] incisive and brutally frank account. --The New York Journal of Books Eagle Down is a gripping story of a war most Americans had thought was over or had wrongly forgotten about entirely. --The Diplomatic Courier The book's interweaving narrative style paired with Donati's meticulous reporting makes Eagle Down as engaging and touching as it is insightful. --Stars and Stripes Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, and U.S. Special Forces are one of the most secretive groups in America's military. That Jessica Donati managed to crack both and write a book that is both brutally honest and deeply compassionate about this elite group is a journalistic triumph. It is beautifully written, impossible to put down and deeply terrifying for anyone who has worked in that country. She's one of those writers who makes me deeply proud of my profession. --Sebastian Junger, New York Times best-selling author Skillfully interweaving big-picture policy analysis with frontline reporting, Donati shines a stark light on this shadowy conflict. The result is a distressing yet vital update on America's longest war. --Publishers Weekly The book hits its mark in its sympathetic portrayal of the boots on the ground, in particular the Special Forces and Green Berets of Operational Detachment Alpha. Their frustrations at the human costs, from deaths to homesickness to mission futility, will resonate with readers. --Booklist Donati's on-the-ground account-and it's clear that she put herself in constant danger to tell the soldiers' stories even as American officials dithered about how to deploy those troops-is sometimes as hallucinatory as Dispatches and as taut and well written as Mark Bowden's now-classic book...Exemplary journalism and a powerful argument for not putting soldiers in harm's way unless we're sure we know why.--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Donati's on-the-ground account-and it's clear that she put herself in constant danger to tell the soldiers' stories even as American officials dithered about how to deploy those troops-is sometimes as hallucinatory as Dispatches and as taut and well written as Mark Bowden's now-classic book...Exemplary journalism and a powerful argument for not putting soldiers in harm's way unless we're sure we know why. --Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Author Information

Jessica Donati covers foreign affairs for The Wall Street Journal in Washington DC, and has reported from over a dozen countries in the role. She joined the paper as the bureau chief in Kabul in 2015, and lived in Afghanistan for over four years. Previously, she worked for Reuters in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, covering both the conflicts in Libya and Afghanistan. Her work on a series on the war in Libya was chosen as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2012. She is British-Italian, and grew up in Italy. She lives with her husband and son in Washington DC.

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