POSTPONED | Afghanistan: Messy Reality on the Ground

Asia Society Texas Center's talk by Rajiv Chandrasekaran has been postponed. A new date will be announced soon.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused. All those who have already purchased tickets will be contacted regarding a refund.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the Washington Post reporter whose 2006 book Imperial Life in the Emerald City is considered a classic of the Iraq War, delivers an eye-opening account of the struggle to transform Afghanistan in his new book, Little America.

Subtitled "The War Within the War for Afghanistan," Little America explores what went right and what went wrong with President Obama's troop surge in southern Afghanistan. Chandrasekaran contends that the first year was completely squandered as national security aides bickered, generals sent troops to the wrong places, and diplomats and aid workers failed to deliver on their ambitious promises.

Publisher's Weekly, in a starred review, called Little America "a searing indictment …. [filled with] solid and timely reporting, crackling prose, and more than a little controversy."

Chandresakaran will discuss Little America and the outlook for Afghanistan in the inaugural program of Asia Society Texas Center's new Authors on Asia series.

About Rajiv Chandrasekaran

Rajiv Chandrasekaran is senior correspondent and associate editor at the Post, where he has worked since 1994. He has been the newspaper's bureau chief in Baghdad, Cairo, and Southeast Asia, and has covered Afghanistan off and on for a decade.

Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone won the Overseas Press Club award, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and was named one of the "Top 10 Books of the Year" by the New York Times Book Review.

Related Links

Full Authors on Asia Schedule
A Knopf Q&A: A Conversation with Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Author of Little America