Zalmay Khalilzad, The envoy: from Kabul to the White House, my journey through a turbulent world

Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has provided a most readable account of his upbringing, his stint in the US National Security Council and his ambassadorships to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations. With his political sense and candour, he explains to readers how after winning easy military victories in Afghanistan and Iraq, American efforts there so quickly lost direction and became examples of how not to intervene in difficult areas. Having ready access to high-ranking US administration officials, Ambassador Khalilzad was luckier than his American homologues serving in foreign capitals. But even he, despite his contacts, intelligence, and efforts, and like all government representatives operating in foreign lands, expended greater efforts in headquarters than in the stations where he served, in order to get the requisite backing for his difficult missions. His instructions were sometimes garbled because of inter-agency rivalry.