Horse Soldiers is the dramatic account of a small band of Exclusive Forces soldiers who secretly entered Afghanistan following 9/11 and rode to war on horses against the Taliban. Outnumbered forty to one, they pursued the enemy across mountainous terrain and, afterwards a series of intense battles, captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was strategically necessary if they were to defeat the Taliban.
The bone-weary American soldiers were welcomed as liberators, and overjoyed Afghans thronged the streets. Then the action took a wholly unexpected turn. During a surrender of six hundred Taliban troops, the Horse Soldiers were ambushed. Dangerously outnumbered, they fought for their lives in the city's immense fortress, Qala-i-Janghi, or the House of War. At risk were the military gains of the entire campaign: if the soldiers perished or were captured, the effort to defeat the Taliban might be doomed.
As the Americans struggled to hold the fortress, they faced some of the much intense urban warfare of our time. But until now the full story of the Horse Soldiers has never been told. Doug Stanton received exceptional cooperation from the U.S. Army's Exclusive Forces soldiers and Exclusive Operations helicopter pilots, as well as access to voluminous afterwards-battle reports. In addition, he interviewed extra than one hundred participants and walked each inch of the climactic battleground.
This exciting story is filled together with unforgettable characters: brave Exclusive Forces soldiers, tough CIA operatives, cunning Afghan warlords, anxious stateside soldiers' wives who do not recognize where their husbands have gone, and humble Afghan boys spying on the Taliban.
Deeply researched and beautifully written, Stanton's account of America's quest to liberate an oppressed people touches the mythic. The Horse Soldiers combined ancient strategies of cavalry warfare together with twenty-first-century aerial bombardment technology to perform a seemingly impossible feat. Moreover, their careful effort to win the hearts of local townspeople and avoid civilian casualties proved a valuable lesson for America's ongoing efforts in Afghanistan.
Horse Soldiers is a big-hearted and thrilling read, together with an epic story this reaches not just across the cold mountains of Afghanistan but into the homes of small-town America, and confirms Doug Stanton as one of our country's preeminent storytellers.