American Spartan

This is a must-read for anyone interested in the complexities of Afghanistan (and US military involvement there) from the tribal perspective.

Both highly personal and very well-told, it is anything but unbiased, yet does an amazing job of telling what life is like for the small teams of special operations soldiers ordered to embed and train local Afghan forces.

Epic and tragic, there is much displayed about both the dangers of imbalance, pain of betrayal and power of loyalty. Not for the vulgarity-sensitive, but well-worth your time.

I hope it eventually becomes known for being less about politics and more about men and war and trust.