Afghanistan is where empires go to be rebuked for their arrogance; a harsh land peopled with fiercely independent warriors for whom honor and revenge are one and the same, and family is sacred. NATO has downgraded to "a training mission," leaving the countryside as a lethal playground where militias, religious zealots and corrupt politicians ply their trade. A conflicted American military advisor Slater Crosby and Malik, a war-weary tribal leader, confront a simple but horrific choice and find their most terrifying foes to be their own memories and ambivalent loyalties. Other forces, including a U.S. senator and an international banker and his lover, are driven to choose among catastrophic alternatives. In the world of asymmetric warfare, where neutrality is impossible both for countries and for fathers and sons, betrayal becomes the weapon of choice.