About this episode
Ep 28: Wesley Morgan on Afghanistan Wesley Morgan, journalist and author of The Hardest Place: The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan's Pech Valley, joins the show to discuss his experiences in the Pech Valley, one of Afghanistan’s most contested battlegrounds, and to talk about the U.S. counterinsurgency’s successes and failures. This episode is part 1 of 2. Times 02:52 Introduction 04:28 From Princeton to The Pech 07:25 The Age Dynamic 09:46 Fighting Styles In Helmand Province 12:42 The Episodic Nature Of Fighting In Afghanistan 13:42 The Terrain Of The Pech Valley 17:11 Seeking Bin Laden In Kunar 18:43 Kafiristan - Daniel Dravot’s Dream 20:27 Special Forces - A Tool For Every Task 24:21 The Role Of Seal Team Six and Delta Force 29:36 Seeking The Enemy 31:23 Who Was The Enemy In The Pech? 33:58 The Timber Mafia