To Lose a War: The Fall and Rise of the Taliban

by Jon Lee Anderson

From one of the greatest foreign correspondents of our time, whose essential and profound on the ground reporting from Afghanistan for The New Yorker from before 9/11 to the return of the Taliban to power in 2021 has definitively shaped our understanding of the country and its fate, comes the complete accounting of that era, combining previously published dispatches and new reporting into a narrative of great impact and lasting value.

Jon Lee Anderson first reported from Afghanistan in the late 1980’s, covering the US-backed mujahedin’s insurrection against the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul. Within days of the 9/11 attacks, he was back on the ground as an early eyewitness to the new war launched by the US against the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies. His reportage from the first year of the war won a number of awards, and was published in book form as The Lion’s Dispatches from Afghanistan. At the time, the American military had prevailed on the battlefield, and the newfound peace seemed to offer a precious space for Afghan society to restore itself and to forge a democratic future. But all was not Osama bin Laden was still in hiding, the Taliban were stealthily reorganizing for a comeback, and the United States was about to make the epochal blunder of turning its attention to Iraq.

To Lose a War collects all of Anderson’s writing from Afghanistan over a near quarter-century span. Containing the stories from The Lion’s Grave and all of those he published since as well as important writing appearing here for the first time, the book offers a chronological account of a monumental tragedy as it unfolds in real time. The colossal waste, missed signals, and wishful thinking that characterized the twenty-year arc of the US-led war in Afghanistan have consecrated it as one of the greatest foreign policy failures of modern times, and a bellwether of a larger American imperial decline.

Jon Lee Anderson’s chronicling of the Afghan war for The New Yorker earned him comparisons to Michael Herr and Ryzard Kapuscinski. Just as The Lion’s Grave offered a highly original, intimate glimpse of the war in its still-hopeful first year, To Lose a War provides today’s readers with an unparalleled narrative history of the entire arc of the American misadventure in Afghanistan.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Audiobook, World History, Middle East

400 pages, Hardcover

First published August 12, 2025

About the author

Jon Lee Anderson has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1998. He has covered numerous conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, reported frequently from Latin America and the Caribbean, and written profiles of Augusto Pinochet, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez, and Gabriel García Márquez. He is the author of several books, including The Lion’s Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan, Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, Guerillas: Journeys in the Insurgent World, and The Fall of Baghdad.

Reviews

[The_Reading_ Rabbithole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was apprehensive how a book of published articles would hang together, but I needn’t have been. Anderson’s narrative style is really engaging, each chapter has great character bios, and there is a very clear story arc 🗞️
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We’re told this is a re-write of his previous book, 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓛𝓲𝓸𝓷’𝓼 𝓖𝓻𝓪𝓿𝓮: 𝓓𝓲𝓼𝓹𝓪𝓽𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓼 𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓐𝓯𝓰𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓷 (2002), which came out after the US waged war on Al Qaeda and the post-9/11 fervour seemed too righteous to fail. Anderson felt a follow up was due after witnessing 25 years of turmoil, a resurgent Taliban, and America’s staggering departure in 2021 📰
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The bulk of the book focusses on 2001/2002: the US invasion, bio’s of Afghan leaders, power struggles, the Taliban defeat. The latter chapters covering 2011-2022 are fewer and shorter but have a clear change in tone: the inability of US forces to train Afghan soldiers, the war on drugs failing to stymie poppy cultivation, growing distrust, US soldier war crimes. Adding the Wests failures to the Taliban’s unwavering patience made for a seemingly inevitable comeback ⚠️
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Afghan civilians and soldiers alike are reportedly exhausted from decades of war. They’ve lived in a country beset with conflict since the 1970’s and they’ve done what they needed to survive - switching allegiances, switching back, keeping quiet, hiding out 💣
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I would’ve liked some more focus on women’s treatment. It’s mentioned a few times but I felt such a significant aspect could’ve warranted more word count 🚺
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In the end we’re told Afghanistan is the “graveyard of empires” and America can claim no moral authority. Investment abruptly ended leaving many jobless, starving, or addicted to their most precious export, opium. It’s a dismal end that leaves you wondering how much more resilience regular Afghans need to get by ❓
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Highly recommend for anyone that wants an absorbing Afghan history lesson 🇦🇫

[William McCabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Press for providing me with a review copy!

I found the book to be fascinating. Since the writing came from previous New Yorker pieces there was an immediacy that came from reading them that one doesn’t get from a book written with time and distance. I appreciated Anderson’s insights on the conflict, as well as his character profile of all types of Afghans that he met and spoke to; everyone from warlords to politicians and regular people. I could feel his anger at the mistakes that he was witnessing happening in real time, as well as genuine sadness at the cost of those mistakes. Anderson is a great writer, and again the fact that the book was pulled together from many New Yorker pieces really showed the tragedy in Afghanistan happening in real time.

My only minor complaint, and it is very minor, is that since the book was made up of previously written pieces there is a tendency to repeat information over and over again. The same stories might appear more than once or twice because he is referencing something previous even if it was in the previous chapter. Again, this speaks to the immediacy that each chapter provides, as they were written years apart from each other. Maybe some of that will be cleaned up in further editing for the final edition, but I found it to be very minor and did not hamper the reading experience.

Would definitely suggest this to someone who is interested in history and current events. Really shines a fascinating and sad light on a time in history that we already seem to be forgetting about.

[Christine D · Rating 1 out of 5]

I appreciate he entrenched himself for 30 or so years in Afghanistan BUT I had many problems with this.
First, a compilation of articles, things are bound to be repetitive.
Second, I had previously not read the articles and found they contained facts but personal opinions were definitely interjected (not completely objective reporting).
Third, the prologue really soured me and I wasn't sure if I was even going to peruse the book (which I ended up doing). He has empathy for the Afghan civilians (completely understandable) but then there's statement's like this: [after the Taliban returned to power in 2021] "the Taliban left people of Kabul to their own devices, and except for a few disturbing incidents, ...there had been little overt repression." (Dorset, England 2025 is the footnote at the end of the prologue). There seemed to be more compassion for the civilians in some of the articles.
Fourth, he places a lot of blame- on the West. Some justifiable, some not.
A frustrating book about a frustrating war.
There are much better books on the history of Afghanistan and the region as a whole.

[Gene Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twenty years of tragedy and horror up close

A compelling story of war and terrorism that I could not put down. Each chapter drew me into this saga of hopeless disaster and tragedy. It provided an always insightful understanding of the reasons the “war on terror” failed and why it dragged on for so long. The book also provides insight into the failure to learn and heed the lessons of the Vietnam war era as a major reason for many more decades of tragic counterinsurgency war history centered in and around Afghanistan. Also insightful about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and extremism. The story is helpful in understanding the cultural and political conflict currently raging in the USA. Fundamentalism, a surfeit of private weapons, weakening democracy, increasing xenophobia, misogyny, and other forms of intolerance and hatred are just some of the problems shared by both countries.

[Ula Tardigrade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jon Lee Anderson is one of my favorite New Yorker staff writers. There aren't many foreign correspondents with such stature, which comes from his extensive experience, as well as his talent as an author and the deep insights he offers.

I’ve read some of the stories included in this book in the magazine, but together, they provide an excellent overview of Afghanistan’s recent history. Highly recommended!

Thanks to the publisher, The Penguin Press, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

[Kathleen]

Placed a hold on the ebook (ebccls). Read in New York Times article about the two brothers who are war reporters. Both books - Iran (Scott Anderson) and Taliban (Jon Lee Anderson) look interesting.

"Two War Reporter Brothers, 60 Countries and Now a Pair of New Books"
Jon Lee and Scott Anderson avoid being in the same conflict zone. But with new books publishing this month, they made a rare joint appearance in New Jersey.

[Byron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary read from start to finish. For those like me who may have failed to read these accounts in what's left journalistically of The New Yorker over the last three or more decades, this is an invaluable read.