To Lose a War
The Fall and Rise of the Taliban
Published on 12. February 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-1-80427-243-5 (ISBN)
Description
Jon Lee Anderson first reported from Afghanistan in the late 1980s, covering the US-backed mujahideen's insurrection against the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul. Within days of the 9/11 attacks, he was again on the ground as an early eyewitness to the new war launched by the US against the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies. 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 well: Osama bin Laden was still in hiding, the Taliban were stealthily reorganizing for a comeback, and the United States was about to turn its attention to Iraq. To Lose a War collects Anderson's writing from Afghanistan over a near-quarter-century span, offering a chronological account of a monumental tragedy as it unfolds. 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 the modern era, and a bellwether of a larger American imperial decline.
Reviews / Votes
'More than any American journalist of the war in Afghanistan, Jon Lee Anderson knew where to find the story: in the lives of Afghans navigating between an American occupier and a repressive Taliban. With his characteristic courage, curiosity, humanity and unflinching eye for official hypocrisy and the revealing detail, Anderson paints a riveting picture of what went wrong over the two decades after 9/11. To Lose a War is an epochal and essential record of what happened in Afghanistan, a timeless warning about imperial overreach, and a poignant tribute to the resilience of Afghans who lived through it all.'- Ben Rhodes, New York Times bestselling author of After the Fall and The World as It Is 'Anderson's pieces are a triumph of high-wire journalism - often taking him into hair-raising action - that also offer a capacious, resonant panorama of Afghan society. The result is a captivating account of a military march of folly that ably dissects its many tragic delusions.'
- Publishers Weekly 'Jon Lee Anderson is an extraordinary, clear-sighted analyst. His prose is beautiful. His empathy, his patience, his wit and understanding exceptional. There are few better guides to the new geopolitics and the incongruous, elusive, demanding realities on the ground.'
- Rory Stewart, Sunday Times bestselling author of Politics on the Edge 'Essential for understanding the futility of America's longest war.'
- Kirkus (starred review) 'Jon Lee Anderson is one of the finest foreign correspondents we have. I have long been admirer of his work. In Afghanistan, he was always ahead of the pack in ferreting out the essential stories - vivid, poignant, memorable and so often heartbreaking. This collection of his best work there traces America's many tragic missteps with trenchant observations and portraits urgent and personal.'
- Martin Smith, producer and correspondent for PBS Frontline's America and the Taliban
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
398 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80427-243-5 (9781804272435)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2026
Fitzcarraldo Editions
€10.79
Available for download
Person
Jon Lee Anderson is an author and a staff writer for the New Yorker. As a longtime observer of political violence and revolutionary movements, he has reported from many war zones over the years, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Angola, Somalia, Mali and Liberia. He has reported frequently from Latin America and profiled political leaders such as Augusto Pinochet, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro. Anderson also wrote a celebrated biography of the late Argentine revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and, in the course of his research, discovered the long-concealed whereabouts of Guevara's secretly buried body in Bolivia.