After the collapse of Afghanistan’s Soviet-backed government, a mullah finds himself doing anything to protect his students.Chaos reigns in the wake of the collapse of Afghanistan's Soviet-backed government. In the rural, warlord-ruled south, a student is badly beaten at a checkpoint run by bandits. His teacher, who leads a madrassa for orphans left behind by Afghanistan’s civil war, leads his students back to the checkpoint and forces the bandits out. His...

A clear-eyed view of the conflict in Afghanistan and its century-deep roots.The war in Afghanistan has consumed vast amounts of blood and treasure, causing the Western powers to seek an exit without achieving victory. Seemingly never-ending, the conflict has become synonymous with a number of issues — global jihad, rampant tribalism, and the narcotics trade — but even though they are cited as the causes of the conflict, they are in fact symptoms.Rather than...

The truth is that armies rarely teach tactics.They drill procedures, rehearse checklists, and memorize doctrine - but the art of thinking and fighting, the essence of command, is left to chance. The result is predictable: leaders who can pass an exam but falter when lives depend on their judgment.Dangerous Lessons is a guide to breaking that cycle. It strips away the false comfort of rote answers and gives leaders the means to actually teach tactic...

In 1978, the tension on the streets of Managua was electric.The whole city teetered on the edge of becoming a warzone. The Somoza family held the people of Nicaragua in a stranglehold, stripping the country of everything of value and making beggars out of honest citizens. The only thing that kept them in power was the feared Guardia Nacional. In order to survive, Paco eked out a living as a street musician, busking and playing university parties. His politics were those of...

A clear-eyed view of the conflict in Afghanistan and its century-deep roots.The war in Afghanistan has consumed vast amounts of blood and treasure, causing the Western powers to seek an exit without achieving victory. Seemingly never-ending, the conflict has become synonymous with a number of issues—global jihad, rampant tribalism, and the narcotics trade—but even though they are cited as the causes of the conflict, they are in fact symptoms.Rather than beg...