As a former star reporter for NPR, Sarah Chayes developed a devoted listenership for her on-site reports on conflicts around the world. In The Punishment of Virtue, she reveals the misguided U.S. policy in Afghanistan in the wake of the defeat of the Taliban, which severely undermined the effort to build democracy allowed corrupt tribal warlords back into positions of power and the Taliban to re-infiltrate the country. This is an eye-opening chronicle that highlights the often-infuriating realities of a vital front in the war on terror, exposing deeper, fundamental problems with current U.S. strategy.