Showing Goat Game: Thirteen Tales from the Afghan Frontier by Wickliffe W. Walker

No one knows both sides of the Pak-Afghan Frontier as [Wick] does. He has climbed the mountains, run the rivers, and sipped tea in countless tribal councils. In these thirteen tales, he offers readers a boots-on-the-ground feel for life and operations in this topographically and culturally rugged region.…The small villages, the dusty streets, the smell of smoky wood fires, the pace and cadence of conversations—this is the way it was.
—from the foreword by Gary C. Schroen, leader of the first joint CIA/military team in Afghanistan following 9/11

Goat Game presents the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan with originality and unmistakable authenticity. Thirteen interrelated stories capture slices of life—and of death—across two decades in that turbulent and little-understood region as al-Qa’ida evolves and reveals itself to America and the world. Each story has a specific purpose and role in the book, and together they form a unique and engaging narrative.
Those unsung few Special Operations soldiers and intelligence officers who have served at the very point of the spear in Southwest Asia may find here eerie reflections of their own experiences. General readers with an interest in international affairs will find Goat Game a riveting, beyond-the-headlines depiction of that enigmatic theater of war.
With vivid description, engaging dialogue, and reverence for the storied history of the region, author “Wick” Walker distills in these stories a sense of the exotic landscape—from the crowded bazaars of Rawalpindi and Peshawar to the heights of the Hindu Kush . He populates the stories with memorable characters: protagonist Bailey, an American Special Forces officer; his friend, a powerful and canny Pakistani commando officer; a wise and self-effacing Afghan interpreter; a ruthless al Qa’ida propagandist and his Somali bodyguard; and others. Goat Game explores territory untouched by conventional journalism and war memoirs.