5,000 Days of War: The Firsthand Account of an Afghan Special Forces Operator

Ya marg Ya zindagi. Life or death. Born to poverty and facing starvation in his remote Afghan village, eighteen-year-old Yousuf Sediq travels across Taliban territory to apply for a job as an interpreter with the U.S., though he knows little English. After being placed with U.S. and Canadian Special Forces, Yousuf finds out what war is really like. Wanting to do more to help his country, he seeks to join the fight as an Afghan Special Forces soldier, eventually learning of a top-secret unit that he is invited to try out for. After passing selection, Yousuf quickly rises through the ranks to become a squadron commander, leading his fellow Special Forces soldiers on thousands of daring raids, sometimes alongside elite U.S. forces. Task Force-241 kills and captures thousands of terrorists while saving the lives of countless innocent Afghan civilians. Yousuf's unit becomes the Taliban's worst nightmare, leading to them to place a bounty on the head of every member of the task force, along with their families. Unless Task Force-241 kills them first. Then, in 2021, through a shady deal with corrupt politicians, Afghanistan suddenly and quickly falls once again to the Taliban. To Yousuf, the years of sacrifice and loss feel like they were for nothing, even as his task force secures the Kabul airport so the Americans can evacuate the country. Only after a suicide bomber kills hundreds, including thirteen U.S. servicemembers, at the airport's Abbey Gate entrance does Yousuf and his family get airlifted to the United States, where he's forced to start a new life while dreaming of a peaceful Afghanistan.