In this landmark work, Jonathan Schroden captures the complete history of U.S. counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan. Beginning with the United States' overthrow of the Taliban government in 2001 and ending with the Taliban's overthrow of the US-backed government twenty years later, Schroden describes the creation, evolution, operations, and results of US and Afghan special operations task forces designed to counter al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Islamic State in Afghanistan.

Building on existing scholarly research into US counter-terror operations, this book also features analysis of memoirs, news and investigative reporting, official U.S. government accounts and documents, as well as interviews with key leaders of U.S. counter-terrorism units and operations in Afghanistan. The result is a complete, detailed, nuanced, and objective understanding of the goals, approaches, and results of U.S. counter-terrorism operations during its war in Afghanistan.