Final Engagement

Consistently Engaged Military Readership: Final Engagement appeals to readers of personal war stories like Diversion’s Leave No Man Behind (9k BookScan sales), Outlaw Platoon (33k BookScan sales), Lions of Kandahar (27k BookScan sales); and frank assessments of the war, like In the Graveyard of Empires (10k BookScan sales). 

Boots-on-the-Ground Battle in the Most Dangerous Remote Outpost:

Izant thrusts readers into the last US-Afghan joint firefights against the Taliban near Combat Outpost Taghaz in Afghanistan’s most dangerous province. 

Honors Americans Veterans:

While addressing painful questions that haunt the 800,000 American veterans of Afghanistan and their families, Final Engagement illustrates the daily heroism of the American front-line warriors, notably the Marines under Izant’s command—men like Lance Corporal Cory Malone, Corporal Alfonso “Fonz” Palacios, and Doc O’Connor. 

Honestly Portrays the Afghan Soldiers and Their Impossible Plight:

Izant brings to life the men of the Afghan Border Patrol he advised—like Abdul Aziz, Sher Ali, and Izant’s interpreter, Ahmed (last name omitted throughout the book for his security)—warts and all, but mostly with sympathy (especially when America withdrew from active combat) and shared humanity. 

Exposes Our Lost Battle to Empower the Afghan National Security Forces

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Portrays the US working relationship with the Afghan men in the 1st Tolai, the unit Izant’s team advises, trains, and assists; the difficulty of preparing them to fight on their own; the threat of insider “green on blue” attacks; the relentlessness of the Taliban enemy; and the deadly result of policymakers’ decision to begin a drawdown of US troops. 

An Allegory of the Entire War:

From the blind policymaking that ended Operation Enduring Freedom, Izant zooms in on his team’s last engagement with Taliban on the border with Pakistan alongside the 1st Tolai, and then returns to Taghaz years later to detail the awful consequences of base closures, fixed withdrawal timelines, and an understaffed and ill-equipped ANSF. 

Echoes of the Lasting Literature of the Vietnam War:

Izant’s Final Engagement does for the “lost cause” War in Afghanistan what books like O’Brien’s If I Die in a Combat Zone, Kovic’s Born on the Fourth of July, Herr’s Dispatches, and Caputo’s A Rumor of War did for the “lost cause” Vietnam War. 

Historical Anniversary:

Diversion publishes Final Engagement for the 15>th< Anniversary of President Obama announcing an increased effort to train the Afghan Security Forces to be followed by a July 2011 beginning of a drawdown of US troops—the controversial “advise and abandon” policy.   

Author’s Military Service and Platform:

Izant served as an infantry officer in the Marines from 2010 through 2014, followed by a joint degree from Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government. He has been published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology and the Harvard National Security Journal, served as co-director for the Harvard Veterans Organization, and is currently an FBI Special Agent.