The International Institute for Strategic Studies is an influential independent international think tank. As Senior Fellow for Land Warfare, Ben Barry has written extensively for IISS publications including Survival, its journal, and Strategic Survey, its annual assessment of world affairs. He is one of the authors of the annual Military Balance, an authoritative assessment of global military affairs. He was the author of 'Combat and Capability: Military Trends since 9/11', published in the 2012 Military Balance. This flagship essay was a concise analysis of the decade of military conflict war from 2001 to 2011.

Barry left the British Army in October 2010. He wrote A Cold War: Frontline Operations in Bosnia describing his battalion's operational tour under both UN and NATO flags in the mid-1990s. The book was shortlisted for the British Army Book of the Year 2009. His final appointment was leading the British Army's analysis of the lessons of the Iraq campaign, which informs Blood, Metal and Dust.

List of Maps
List of Illustrations
Preface to First Edition
Preface to Second Edition
Acknowledgements

1 Before the Fall: The military experience of the US and its allies before 9/11
2 Strategic Shock and Response: Afghanistan from 9/11 to Operation Anaconda
3 Economy of Force: Stabilizing Afghanistan 2002-05
4 Operation Cobra II: The invasion of Iraq
5 Descent into Chaos: Iraq 2003-04
6 'As the Iraqis stand up we will stand down': The Transition Strategy 2004-06
7 The Iraq Surge: Regaining the initiative
8 Learning under Fire: The struggle to adapt to the unexpected character of the conflicts
9 The Battles for Basra: Britain' s near-defeat in southern Iraq
10 Endgame in Iraq: Success turns to failure
11 The Enemy Gets a Vote: Afghanistan 2006-09
12 The Afghan Surge: 2009-12
13 The Failure of the Transition to Afghan Security Leadership
14 Bloody Lessons

Glossary
Recommended Reading
Endnotes
Index