Afghanistan—scene of tribal, ethnic, colonial, and Cold War conflict across the ages. Into this cockpit dropped a multinational post-9/11 coalition to root out al-Qaeda and replace the hardline-Islamist Taliban regime that harbored it. A quick invasion and regime change portended quiet reconstruction and good governance, but it was not to be so. In their sanctuary across Pakistan\'s border, the Taliban rebuilt for an insurgency that would ensnare the Coalition in the tangle of Afghan rivalries, shifting allegiances, and warlordism that the West could at first only distantly grasp.

Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare

Standing in the submarine’s forward hatch, Lieutenant Dixon tightens his oilskin watch coat. The February sea cuts through to the bone and this is the third night spent scanning an inky horizon. Once again, no target in sight. Frustrated, feeling the ennervy mood of his seven-man crew below, Dixon takes one last look through his binoculars before ordering retirement to barracks. The weather isn’t likely to improve tonight.

Here now… was that a light? There! And once again, low and to the south-southeast. A light! He raps against the iron hull to startle the men. “Look sharp!” Then, in a voice low and tense, “Prepare to CRANK!”