"Fall 2001: The world is riveted as the vast panoply of American military power rises to contest the legendary warrior culture of Afghanistan. Supersonic fighters soar from nuclear carriers and giant stealth aircraft cross half the globe to overfly ancient hill forts and medieval towers. By spring 2002, America begins to draw down its forces, their mission accomplished: The Afghan Taliban regime has been overthrown and the terrorists it harbored are on the run.".

"Unlike every power that came before, the United States had met with success. But America's recent victory may not be exactly as it seems. Across the centuries Afghanistan has been an easy country to enter; the problem comes when an army tries to remain, or when it tries to leave.".

"Stephen Tanner examines the entire extraordinary military history of Afghanistan - a history of defying foreign powers for some 2,500 years, beginning with the Persian Empire and Alexander the Great. Later, invading armies from India, Arabia, and the steppes all attempted to control the "crossroads of Asia." The Mongols' Genghis Khan descended on the Hindu Kush during the medieval period, wreaking havoc, and both Tamerlane's raiders and Babur's Moghuls marched through Afghanistan's mountainous reaches.

Never once did the Afghans acknowledge defeat."--BOOK JACKET.