Ed Krayewski on Afghanistan

Little America, a compelling new account of the Afghan war by Washington Post correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran, traces America's involvement in Afghanistan back more than half a century, starting with an Afghan king's plans for a development project in 1950 and continuing through the American presence there today. According to Chandrasekaran, Ed Krayewski writes in his review, the U.S. forces on the ground accomplish the tasks they're given, but there's no clear mission in Afghanistan and no direction from the top. And no one has figured out a way to deal with an even more fundamental problem: the weak, corrupt, and hapless Afghan government.