Swimming with Warlords: A Dozen-Year Journey Across the Afghan War

In this electrifying first-person account, journalist and author Kevin Sites goes deep into the geopolitical morass of Afghanistan to emerge with critical insights into both a people and a war that few truly comprehend.

As a journalist for NBC News, Kevin Sites made his first trip to Afghanistan in October 2001, crossing the Amu Darya River at night, traveling with Northern Alliance fighters as they toppled the Taliban regime with the help of American forces. In that first 100 days, he lost seven colleagues and nearly his own life. Since then, Sites has returned five more times. On his last trip in summer 2013,on the eve of America's planned withdrawal, he retraced the steps of his first original odyssey to examine what, if anything, has changed.


Using his trademark immersive style, Sites uncovered surprising stories with unexpected truths. He swam in the Kunduz River with an infamous warlord named Nabi Gechi, who demonstrated both his fearsome killing skills as well as a genius for peaceful invention. Sites talked with ex-Taliban fighters, politicians, female cops, farmers, drug addicts, and diplomats, and patrolled with American and Afghan soldiers. In Swimming with Warlords he helps us to understand this kingdom of primitive beauty, dark mysteries, and savage violence, as well as the conflict that has cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives–and what we might expect tomorrow and in the years to come.
Swimming with Warlords contains 30 black-and-white photos throughout.