In this very well written book, scholar and soldier Chris Kolenda goes far towards explaining why President Biden chose to pull US forces out of Afghanistan, even for those of us who disagree with the decision. Years of often disorganized and stove-piped efforts left the United States and international community enormously frustrated—and contributed to making Afghanistan a weak kleptocratic state facing a potent and foreign-supported insurgency. I was briefed by Kolenda after his command in the eastern mountains of Afghanistan early in the war, encountered him often in Kabul and Washington thereafter, and know how much of his own sweat and tears and life he poured into the mission. Yet these pages smack not of payback or vendetta, but of sad—yet scholarly, and thoughtful, and constructive—criticisms that America must wrestle with. Kolenda offers practical solutions to reduce these unforced errors and restore faith in America's strategic leadership. Among Kolenda's most creative and compelling recommendations, as we seek to avoid overmilitarizing our future approaches to such complex missions, is this, drawn from his conclusion: 'Address America's Bureaucratic Way of War by decentralizing to an in-theater, interagency command so that someone is accountable for results. Congress can hold meaningful hearings, and senior officials can stop misleading Americans with their claims of in-silo progress.' Like it or not, our recent 20-year effort in Afghanistan may not be the last of its kind. It may not even be the last one there. We need to get better at this kind of complex intervention in case the need ever arises again.
~Michael O'Hanlon, senior fellow at Brookings, author of The Art of War in an Age of Peace: U.S. Grand Strategy and Resolute Restraint
The most thoughtful analysis yet of America's recent conflicts – and future challenges. Chris Kolenda, a veteran of both battlefield and bureaucratic combat, provides an account of Iraq and Afghanistan that is simultaneously brilliant, depressing, and deeply instructive. The best teams learn from their defeats. Hopefully, we will also. Zero-Sum Victory is a great place to start.
~General Stanley A. McChrystal (USA, Ret.), co-author of Team of Teams
Chris Kolenda writes from a position of strength, for he was a man in the arena. War in all its forms has always been a very human affair and it is these failures of human enterprise that he shines a searchlight upon, and in doing so helps us understand the 'why' that our best endeavours in Afghanistan and Iraq fell short.
~Lieutenant General Sir Graeme Lamb, KBE, CMG, DSO
Chris Kolenda's mesmerizing account of how US interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq became quagmires highlights a singular truth we ignore at our peril: the purpose of war is not to keep the game going in multiple overtimes until one side prevails, but rather to achieve an acceptable political outcome. He concludes with a set of practical, but challenging recommendations on the structural changes needed in the bureaucracy to ensure more objective and better-integrated approaches to ending the inevitable irregular wars of the future. Policymakers, take note!
~Ambassador Robin Raphel
Chris Kolenda brings unique insights into America's wars over the past two decades. His personal experience across the spectrum is unmatched: combat commander on the ground; senior advisor at four-star headquarters, the Pentagon, and the White House; and negotiator with the Afghan Taliban. Practitioners and academics alike will find his observations and recommendations clear, well-founded, and compelling. This is the book to begin our national after-action review of the Long Wars.
~Douglas E. Lute, Lieutenant General, US Army, Retired.US Ambassador to NATO, 2013-17
Packed full of insight, this is a brilliant insider's account, by soldier-scholar Chris Kolenda, which shows how the failure to think through war termination led the United States to lose in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kolenda offers an essential and timely guide for how to avoid military quagmires in the future.
~Theo Farrell, professor and author of The Sunday Times bestseller Unwinnable
Christopher Kolenda, one of the great soldier-scholars of our time, has produced a path-breaking new study on a critical policy question that has yet to be sufficiently answered: Why have American wars in the post-9/11 era experienced so much failure? Kolenda offers a rich and thoughtful analysis that will make a lasting contribution to the war studies field. Zero Sum Victory is essential reading for subject specialists and the broader public alike.
~Michael Kugelman, Senior Associate for South Asia, Wilson Center
Zero-Sum Victory is mandatory reading for any student or observer of the global war on terror. In this compelling and highly readable text, Christopher Kolenda draws upon all aspects of his impressive career as a combat commander, strategic policy advisor, and academic. His extensive first-hand experience provides authentic insights into what we are getting wrong about war. He highlights the absence of strategic consideration on a war termination framework, the mistaken conflation of military plans with national strategies, and the prevalence of confirmation bias masking emerging risks. As Kolenda argues, these errors were further compounded by the conduct of 'the bureaucratic way of warfare' that confused authorities, responsibilities, and accountabilities to such an extent that 'the whole became less than the sum of its parts'. Chris's coverage of the failure of Afghan peace negotiations is the most authoritative first-hand account you will find, with Zero-Sum Victory concluding with a superb analysis of the implications for US foreign policy and scholarship.
~Major General Dr. Adam Findlay AM, Former Special Operations Commander - Australia
Zero-Sum Victory, the product of a rare combination of incisive scholarship and years of hard-won and occasionally bitter first-hand experience, is an essential guide to 21st-century Western military strategy and its many dysfunctions and critical reading for anyone wanting to understand what went so wrong in Iraq and Afghanistan and, indeed, what might still go wrong now.
~Dr. Simon Anglim, Orde Wingate: Unconventional Warrior
Chris Kolenda is a rarity: a US Army commander who fought in Afghanistan and then spent years jump-starting peace talks with the Taliban. His rigorous and unsparing assessment of what went wrong during the longest war in American history deserves widespread attention.
~Craig Whitlock, author of The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War
In Zero-Sum Victory, Chris Kolenda provides insightful and compelling answers to the question of why the US wasn't able to 'win' in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. His conclusion that the US systematically defaulted to a goal of zero-sum victory in its unconventional wars is a powerful one for policymakers confronting the coming decades of challenges to US military power.
~Dr. Jonathan Schroden, Director of CNA's Countering Threats and Challenges Program
War termination is among the most important responsibilities of the state. Yet the U.S. has failed systematically at this since 2001. In Zero-Sum Victory, Christopher Kolenda makes a landmark contribution toward improving this baleful record by highlighting the crucial importance of negotiation in ending wars. The book is essential reading for both policy makers and scholars.
~Stephen Biddle, author of Nonstate Warfare: The Military Methods of Guerillas, Warlords, and Militias
Few have had the diversity of perspectives on war as Chris Kolenda, and the framework he provides makes this book essential reading for understanding how bureaucratic silos and strategic narcissism led to our failures in Afghanistan and Iraq. He expertly lays the groundwork for a much-needed assessment of where we went wrong – and how to avoid those mistakes in future conflicts.
~Jason Dempsey, veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and author of Our Army: Soldiers, Politics, and American Civil-Military Relations
What went wrong in America's recent wars? In Zero-Sum Victory, Chris Kolenda looks for answers in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the corridors of American power, and the annals of history. Read this erudite volume in order to get things right.
~Richard Fontaine, CEO, Center for a New American Security
Compelling and deeply researched, Zero-Sum Victory will grab you from the start. Christopher Kolenda has brought us an authoritative exploration of how America ends its wars.
~Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, author of The Daughters of Kobani: A Story of Rebellion, Courage, and Justice and Ashley's War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield
Kolenda clearly care[s] deeply about the American military and its role in the world, and, with [his book, has] demonstrated that true respect leads to deep introspection and critical examination, of both policymakers and military leadership alike.
~Just Security
WATCH: Christopher Kolenda interviewed on CBS News: "Uncertain future of U.S.-Afghanistan relations after chaotic withdrawal." Watch online here.
LISTEN: Christopher Kolenda interviewed on BBC News: "Afghanistan: How military failures led to Taliban takeover." Listen online here.
WATCH: Christopher Kolenda interviewed on MSNBC: "Taliban leaders claim full control of Afghanistan." Watch online here.
WATCH: Christopher Kolenda interviewed on CNN: "Stunning, chaotic end to America's era in Afghanistan." Watch online here.
WATCH: Christopher Kolenda quoted by John Oliver on Last Week Tonight. Watch online here.
WATCH: Christopher Kolenda interviewed on Fox News: "Retired Army Colonel on Afghan Exit." Watch online here.
LISTEN: Christopher Kolenda interviewed by The World. Listen online here.
This is an insightful call for rethinking U.S. military strategy.
~Publishers Weekly
Zero-Sum Victory is an eye-opener for current and future military leaders.an essential contribution to the existing literature on the war. It highlights the shortcoming of overemphasizing a winner-takes-all approach. All future military leaders should read Zero-Sum Victory—especially US Army War College students—in preparation for mission assignments
~Parameters
