Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan

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The Wrong War A Fantastic technical read by Bing!

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2019

This book was a thorough technical read on reality of the challenge facing the nation's working to keep Afganistan from falling
In a slow death spiral to the Taliban. Presenting personal insights into soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice and soldiers still in the fight Bing connects the necessary elements to clearly give the reader necessary data to begin to understand the situation the US and its partner's face today. Not pulling any punches the evolution of US civilian leadership and in turn US military leadership have combined as Bing illustrates to have created the quagmire in Afghanistan today. A great read. A troubling read. Exactly the book I expected from Bing. I give the book 5 stars

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Gullible Guss

The wrong perspective on "The Wrong War".

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2014

"America cannot afford to loose the war in Afganistan."

Great 2010-11 report about the activity of soldiers on the ground. Not a good predictor of democracy to come.
Tough advisers can not succeed where a well financed army has failed.

Now in 2014 hindsight the war was lost before we began to pull out.
The Afgan religious culture will continue to tear down what America tried to save for these people.
Bid them goodbye.

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From the United States

mopic

The Wrong War A Fantastic technical read by Bing!

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2019

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Amazon Customer

Great current military history

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2017

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I'm a retired Army officer and Viet Nam vet. The book was engaging from its beginning citing (then) LTC Cavoli's (whom I know personally) leadership and experiences thru to events in 2012. I learned a great deal. However, I found the (to me) over emphasis on the tactical detracted from an overall story of a lack a national strategic purpose, rationale and approach (then and still). Half of the tactical accounts would have been equally convincing and credible. That there were nearly as many strategic approaches as there were major commanders and Sec Defs was also a compelling argument. It was interesting and true that all too often presidential and secretarial pronouncements and orders were impossible to implement at the brigade level and below. I liked the idea of a viable career path for military advisors. Finally, I also believe that at any level leaving the nation building to the State Department is an absolute non-starter, a guaranteed local and national failure waiting to happen. There is not a word in the book to convince me otherwise.

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kevin stone

Best Book On Our involvement In Afghanistan, Hands Down

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2012

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As always, Bing West gives it to you straight. This is a real life, down to earth assessment of the complicated conflict. There are no sugar-coated solutions offered, just a realistic warfighter's opinion on the mistakes being made and how to address them. He does no ass-covering for military brass, who still haven't found a consistent strategy to victory, nor does he ignore the fact that our government has no idea what to do to achieve a semblance of democracy in Afghanistan. The indigenous tribes are depicted as is: an islamic warrior society that has no desire for democracy and will continue to hate us and fight with each other long after we leave. You cannot save a corrupt country from itself. A war against islam it is not. Whether or not the radical elements of islam will continue to make terroristic war against us is up to them. Most likely, we will leave there with about as much benefit from the conflict as the Russians did-zilch. The grunts on the ground have proven themselves to be the bravest, hardest troops in the world, despite being saddled with basically the same limitations imposed during Vietnam. Once again, our nation has placed our best and bravest in harm's way and tied their hands. They are heroes, nonetheless.

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William A. Thayer

Great Analysis

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2011

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This book is a superb analysis of the War in Afghanistan. Bing West is not some chair bound professor expounding on the war. He was there dodging bullets and risking IEDs along with the troops. His stories of the fights of Korengal and Marja are just superb examples of actually experiencing the fighting as the troops do. But where Bing West excels is in his analysis. One point that he makes repeatedly in this book and other books is that one of the key elements in fighting a counterinsurgency is taking a census. This means a comprehensive census of name, picture, biometric identification, village, family identification and relations etc. We have the US VISIT program with over 100 million unique identifications yet after 10 years of war in Afghanistan, we have not comprehensively identified the 12 million Pashtuns, especially the men of military age.

What is the bottomline? Mr. West captures the essence of how to be successful. It is not "protecting the people". It is getting the Afghans to protect the people. Our effort should be an advisory effort to develop a functioning Afghan Army and Afghan Police Force. The advisors must be embedded with the Afghans. It is going to take a long time. But we should be able to reduce our total manpower level as we transition to "advising".

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Staz

Great Tactical Insight and Storytelling, Lacks Larger Perspective

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2011

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"The Wrong War" does a fantastic job at illustrating the daily firefights and struggles faced by ISAF in Afghanistan. The descriptions of action are great and will hopefully key people into what is actually happening there. The first half of the book involves describing the efforts of Army units in Eastern Afghanistan. West does a fantastic job here describing the efforts of companies and even platoons in places like Kunar and the Korengal and using them (extremely effectively) as an allegory for the war as a whole. His descriptions of both the action faced by these Soldiers and how it ties into the overall situation in Afghanistan is telling and unmatched. Later, while following the Marines in the south, West turns his attention to broader issues, chiefly the rules of engagement, which he (rightfully) deems too strict. This book's only failing in my mind has been noted here before. While West is an expert at describing the tactical situation, he doesn't seem to have much insight on what is happening in the upper echelons of commmand, whether in Kabul or Washington. After a while one gets the impression that West is mad at everyone in charge- Obama, Gates, McChrystal, Mckiernan, Karzai, etc. This may not be uncalled for, however West chooses to attack these individuals personally and doesn't really do a thorough examination of their stances on any of these issues, taking quotes and lines from speeches more than anything else. This is the book's major failing. Regardless, the book does do a great job at addressing the major issues facing ground troops in the war, and West effectively communicates his disdain for the COIN strategy that seems to have the U.S. military all wrapped up these days. This was my first book by Bing West, and overall I must say I was quite impressed, and can't wait to read his other works on Iraq and Vietnam.

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Gordon Cucullu

The Most Honest Assessment of Afghanistan

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2011

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Having recently returned from a three-month embed with US Soldiers in Afghanistan, I can say emphatically that Bing West captures the essential elements of the long war: what has succeeded, what has failed, and the direction we must go to win, better than any other analyst, including our most senior political and military leaders.

West has muddy boots. He lives and writes at the grunt level, faces the same discomfort and danger as our Soldiers and Marines, and interacts with the Afghan people in the villages and fields. He does not dwell in the theoretical or academic world of arcane ideas but focuses on results and how to attain them.

Perhaps most relevant for our highly politicized domestic society, West approaches the challenge of Afghanistan from a neutral perspective. He eschews cheap ideological shots and calls mistakes as he sees them regardless of party affiliations or personalities.

The Wrong War is absolutely essential reading for leadership, grunts, and citizens alike. America needs to heed West's analysis or risk abject failure. Get into this book now, you will be glad you did.

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TJMjr

Bing Knows Warfare

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2012

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Bing truly understands warfare and especially this tragic war in Afghanistan. He expertly tells the tactical stories of our young officers and NCOs fighting on the front lines and their insurmountable challenges in winning a counter-insurgencies. He lays out the lies of our strategy or lack of a strategy and clearly shows how this NOT the way a war should be fought. Bing lays it out clearly and shows that we cannot fight a COIN strategy and be successful especially in this environment. He is not talking abut Total War, but more a identifying a clear set of objectives the violently attacking the enemy wherever he may be located. We have failed to do that in AFG over the past 11 years. Great read for young and more experienced Officers and NCOs. Afghanistan. Highly recommend this book.

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Otto J. Fafoglia

On Point Assessment of US. in Afganistan

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2011

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Bing West has given the best assessment of our situation in Afganistan. He makes it so obvious that our end game is not clear because within our own government, there are differences of opinion of how to approach our role there. To me, this is such a tragic situation because our troops are fighting and dying there. Mr. West identifies the Karzai government's corruption along with its impact, the problems with the counterinsurgency approach, the vast tribal rivalries and the problem with the "hearts and minds" approach among the people. I begin to question some of the COIN experts such as Kilcullen and others because of the application in Afganistan.
The description of our troops and their accomplishments is excellent. Our troops are the best and they should be given the best, however, it doesnt appear that support is always forthcoming from some of the military leaders and our government including the president. Every member of Congress should read this book. I just could not put it down until the end.

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donald kalady

Outstanding analysis of the situation in Afghanistan

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2013

Verified Purchase

This was one of the best books I have read regarding the war in Afghanistan. The writer was embedded with a number of different military units. As someone who served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam where he gained great experience in dealing with counterinsurgency tactics against the Vietcong The writer went out in the field with the front line troops and found out what they were doing to either win over the local populace or to defeat the Taliban. He came to some very simple conclusions to explain why we cannot win this war.First of all,the Taliban cannot be defeated because they can always flee across the border into Pakistan if they are outnumbered. The Taliban also has an unlimited number of recruits. Second of all, the local populace does not trust or respect the government in Kabul. They tolerate the Taliban in their areas out of fear for the most part. Some villages even send their young men to fight along side the Taliban. Third of all, the Karzai government is very corrupt and incapable of defending its citizens against the Taliban. The American strategy in Afghanistan has been ineffective because of the flip flopping from a policy of trying to defeat the Taliban to a policy of trying to win over the villagers by protecting them and giving them money. The writer explains that the rules of engagement whereby the American troops cannot fire at an enemy on the battlefield if he is not holding a weapon.The fact that the Obama regime has announced that the troops will be pulled out in the near future is a losing strategy. As the saying goes: the Taliban says the Americans have the watches but they have the time.

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Tough analysis of America's role in Afghanistan

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2011

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Bing West has authored a book that is beginning to get quite a bit of attention. His thesis is simple: We are not going to triumph in Afghanistan using current strategy. Afghanistan is not Iraq; counterinsurgency doctrine, in West's view, will simply not work. He has great respect for new commander David Petraeus, but does not believe that his approach will work. Too many problems: Afghan troops are too dependent on American forces; the government is corrupt; the people will not "rat out" the Taliban.

The book is made the more powerful by the fact that West reports his experiences "on the ground" in Afghanistan with the troops. This provides a genuine grittiness to the work. It also allows him to speak to the respect that the Taliban have for American troops (warriors?). Still, given the challenges noted earlier, is the toughness of American troops enough? West's answer is not optimistic.

In the end, he calls for a different approach (I won't provide a spoiler), but it is difficult to see how his vision would work, given the poor state of the Afghan military. Nonetheless, this is a well and crisply written and provocative work that will engage the reader and inspire some serious reflection on the war in Afghanistan and democratic nation building efforts there.

The last paragraph suggests a great deal (Page 254): "We have fought the wrong war with the wrong strategy. Our troops are not as Peace Corps; they are fighters. Let them fight, and let the Taliban fear."

Again, I think that his solution is trumped by the facts on the ground that he catalogs. But this is a genuinely challenging work that will make the reader reflect upon our role in Afghanistan.

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