August in Kabul - America's Last Days in Afghanistan

Told through the eyes of witnesses to the fall of Kabul, Walkley award-winning journalist Andrew Quilty's debut book offers a remarkable record of this historic moment.

As night fell on 15 August 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. After a 20-year conflict with the United States, its Western allies and a proxy Afghan government, the Islamic militant group once aligned with al Qaeda was about to bury yet another foreign foe in the graveyard of empires. And for the US, world superpower, this was yet another foreign disaster. As cities and towns fell to the Taliban in rapid succession, Western troops and embassy staff scrambled to flee a country of which its government had lost control.

August in Kabul is the story of how America's longest mission came to an abrupt and humiliating end, told through the eyes of Afghans whose lives have been turned upside down: a young woman who harbours dreams of a university education; a presidential staffer who works desperately to hold things together as the government collapses around him; a prisoner in the notorious Bagram Prison who suddenly finds himself free when prison guards abandon their post. Andrew Quilty was one of only a handful of Western journalists who stayed in Kabul as the city fell. This is his first-hand account of those dramatic final days.

About the author

ANDREW QUILTY is an Australian freelance photojournalist and reporter, and the recipient of nine Walkley Awards, including the Gold
Walkley, for his work on Afghanistan, where he was based from 2013 to 2022. He has also received the George Polk Award, the World Press Photo Award and the Overseas Press Club of America award for his investigation into massacres committed by a CIA-backed Afghan militia. August in Kabul is his first book.

Product details

• Authors: Andrew Quilty, Andrew (independent journalist) Quilty, Mr Andrew Quilty
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.05.2023
• EAN: 9781350370319
• ISBN: 978-1-350-37031-9
• No. of pages: 272
• Dimensions: 164 mm x 236 mm x 28 mm
• Weight: 620 g
• Illustrations: 24 colour illus
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Afghanistan, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Journalism, Kabul, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Geopolitics, Geopolitics, military history, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Asian, Reportage & collected journalism, Battles & campaigns, Specific wars and campaigns, Reportage, journalism or collected columns, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / General