Horse Soldiers

Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of U.S. Soldiers who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan is a fascinating tale of soldiering, of cavalry warfare employing 21st century technological tools, of warlords and brave Afghan soldiers too willing to lay down their lives for the defeat of the Taliban, of the local population who, contrary to conventional wisdom, did view the Americans as liberators.

Right after the September 11th attack, a group of soldiers from the Fifth Special Forces were dropped off somewhere in Afghanistan, deep into the enemy territory, to join forces with local warlords and their soldiers in their fight against the Taliban. In a matter of two months, with aerial bombardment support, they succeeded in routing out the enemy. With a GPS tracking system on one hand and a grenade on the other, it is a story of courage and bravery, of honor and duty, of making do with almost nothing and adjusting to the unfamiliar terrain of a different kind of warfare -- the U.S. Army at its finest, indeed!

Their story offers important lessons worth revisiting – understanding the local conditions, co-opting warlords and local populations, employing sophisticated warfare tools and communication devices -- if only to remind us that the war in Afghanistan can be won again.