Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of Us Soldiers... Cover Art

Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of Us Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan (Hardcover)

By: Doug Stanton (Author)


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Review

"Stanton...writes action-packed prose. His gritty narrative is thoroughly researched and the details of military operations jarringly precise. The storytelling of this military operation is reminiscent of Stephen Ambrose's BAND OF BROTHERS and Mark Bowden's BLACK HAWK DOWN."

"[A] rousing, uplifting, Toby Keith-singing piece of work.....There's a lot to admire about HORSE SOLDIERS. Stanton packs a huge amount of research into a thrilling action ride of a book."

Publisher's note

From the "New York Times"-bestselling author of In "Harm's Way" comes a true-life story of American soldiers overcoming great odds to achieve a stunning military victory.

"Horse Soldiers" is the dramatic account of a small band of Special 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, after a series of intense battles, captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was strategically essential 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 most intense urban warfare of our time. But until now the full story of the Horse Soldiers has never been told. Doug Stanton received unprecedented cooperation from the U.S. Army's Special Forces soldiers and Special Operations helicopter pilots, as well as access to voluminous after-battle reports. In addition, he interviewed more than one hundred participants and walked every inch of the climactic battleground.

This exciting story is filled with unforgettable characters: brave Special Forces soldiers, tough CIA operatives, cunning Afghan warlords, anxious stateside soldiers' wives who do not know 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 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, with an epic story that 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.

Annotation

In this military history, Doug Stanton recounts how, shortly after 9/11, Special Forces troops were sent into Afghanistan to do what they do best. Working side by side with the Northern Alliance, and being careful not to alienate the civilian population, the soldiers traveled and fought on horseback, winning ground in the North and eventually liberating the city of Mazar-i-Sharif from years of Taliban rule.

Triumph led to crisis when a large band of Taliban prisoners turned the tables on their Northern Alliance captors while being held in the House of War, a well-fortified and well-stocked fortress built during the British occupation. This precipitated a dramatic, and prolonged, battle between outnumbered Special Forces troops and the combined Taliban, al-Qaeda and Pakistani enemy.

Stanton provides a soldier's level view of the intense combat, along with portraits of leaders of the American and Northern Alliance forces and their troops. HORSE SOLDIERS conveys the author's great admiration for the bravery and sacrifices of the warriors, and provides a solid argument that the kind of battles that were and will be fought in the region require the very kind of elite, small-unit soldiering exhibited by this band of brothers.



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