The envoy: from Kabul to the White House, my journey through a turbulent world

Preface: from Kabul to Baghdad: Kabul, June 20, 2015

Part I. Early life

Poppy fields and tree-lined boulevards: Afghanistan, 1951-1965

Journey to the other side of the world: the United States, 1966-1967

Into the cauldron of politics: Kabul and Beirut, 1968-1974

Aspiring strategist: Chicago and New York City, 1974-1979

The Mujahedeen and the halls of power: New York and Washington, D.C., 1980-1989

Containing Saddam: Washington, D.C., 1988-1992

Crafting grand strategy for a unipolar world: Washington, D.C., 1991-1992

One nation's disintegration, one man's destiny: Washington, D.C., 1993-2001

Part II. Bush administration

The calm before the storm: Washington, D.C., January-September 2001

America under attack: Washington, D.C., September 2001

A quest for leaders in tyranny's shadow: Washington, D.C., and Bonn, Germany, September-December 2001

Return to Kabul: Kabul and Washington, D.C., January-June 2002

Loya Jirga: Kabul, June-July 2002

Eyes elsewhere: Washington, D.C., December 2002-February 2003

Planning post-war Iraq inside Iraq: Ankara, Turkey, and Salahuddin, Iraq, February 2002

Iraq: from liberation to occupation: Washington, D.C., and Baghdad, March-May 2003

Accelerating success in Afghanistan: Washington, D.C., May-November 2003

Ambassador: Kabul, November 2003 to January 2005

Builders versus spoilers: Afghanistan, 2003-2004

Fruits of democracy: Kabul, 2004-2005

Preparing for Iraq: Washington, D.C., November 2004-July 2005

Repairing Iraq: Baghdad, july-December 2005

Forging a national unity government: Baghdad, December 2005-May 2006

Struggling against the cycle of sectarian violence: Baghdad, 2006-2007

Permanent representative to the United Nations: New York, 2007-2009

Part III. America in the world

A more dangerous world: 2015

A life of lessons in strategy and statecraft: 2016 and beyond.