RaveWashington Post[An] excellent new book ... Whitlock builds the case by drawing on an impressive variety of primary sources, most notably internal Defense Department oral interviews and memos. His is the first book-length treatment to assess the mass of formerly classified documents collectively known as \'The Afghanistan Papers\' ... While the book is framed around the question of why the war in Afghanistan failed, it is the overarching narrative of deception that is most interesting.