Reddit reviews My Share of the Task: A Memoir

If you want to understand the nature of the war and the strategy used to fight it from the surge (2007) onward I recommend David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War by Fred Kaplan. This book will describe all the big names and texts that helped formulate modern counterinsurgency doctrine and will give you plenty of authors and publications to further explore. To further understand counterinsurgency, I recommend The Accidental Guerilla by David Kilcullen (this link downloads the file, it does not open it a new window) that has a great chapter on Iraq since he was the senior COIN advisor for a few months into the surge. You can also read FM3-24 the original 2006 version, but its a dense read and I recommend you familiarize yourself with the doctrine through other publications before tackling the field manual itself.

Fiasco by Thomas Ricks is a decent history of the run up to the Iraq war and the first years, I would say 2002-2005 is where it is strongest although it does discuss important history prior to 9/11 in the containment of Iraq and some detail into 2006.

From the Surge onward I recommend Ricks' follow on book The Gamble, and The Surge by Peter Mansoor. These books will detail the important changes and in strategy and operational practices that characterized the Surge and the post 2006 war effort.

These are the books I have personally read that best address your questions. Books that are more tactically oriented instead of focusing on the big picture include The Forever War by Dexter Filkins, which is a morbid book that does justice to the horror of the Iraq's sectarian civil war. Thunder Run by David Zucchino is worthy of being a masterpiece in terms of how well the author constructed an incredible narrative on the tank forays into the heart of Baghdad in the early weeks of the war. My Share of the Task by Stanley McChrystal is a great read on McChrystal fomented a significant evolution in JSOC's intelligence culture and operational tempo. This book is of value specifically to what you asked because his men were the ones that were tracking Abu Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and was the first iteration of what is now known as ISIS. McChrystal describes the structure of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and much of ISIS's organization and methods can be traced back to Zarqawi's leadership.

I don't think you will find any books that will do justice to your interest in terms of recent events however I have some advice that I feel will help you immensely. Simply type in (topic of interest) and end it with pdf into google. This cuts out brief news articles and wikipedia entries and leaves you with top notch reports published by peer reviewed journals and think tanks. This is all free, and its very well researched work.

A report I'm currently reading that I'm sure you will find interesting is Iraq in Crisis by CSIS. It's of course long for a think tank report, but it has a lot of information and great statistics and charts that help the reader better understand Iraq's trends in violence and other challenges. Here are two more interesting reports by well known think tanks that pertinent to what you are looking for.

On the evolution of Al Qaeda and other salafi jihadists by RAND

Iraqi politics, governance and human rights by the Congressional Research Service

Here are a few books that I recommend that are more academic in nature. Let me know if there is anything in particular with regard to either conflict that you would like.

Both Wars

Author | Title | Synopsis
---|---|----
Bob Woodward | Obama's Wars | Outline of the U.S. foreign policy decision making towards Iraq and Afghanistan in the early years of the Obama administration.
Daniel Bolger | Why We Lost: A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars | Bolger offers a unique assessment of these wars, from 9/11 to the final withdrawal from the region, and the shortfalls of U.S. strategy.

Iraq

Author | Title | Synopsis
---|---|----
Michael Gordon | The Endgame: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from George W. Bush to Barack Obama | Follows U.S. strategic and political decision making process during the Iraq War and the U.S. occupation.
Peter Mansoor | Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War | An extensive outline of the development and outcome of the Surge during the U.S. Occupation of Iraq.
Emma Sky | The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq | As one of the longest serving diplomatic volunteers and a former opponent of the war, Sky provides unique insights into the US military as well as the complexities, diversity, and evolution of Iraqi society.
Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor | Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq | A definitive chronicle of America’s invasion and occupation of Iraq that traces the interactions among the generals politicians and reconstructs the principal battles from interviews with those who fought them.
Thomas Ricks | The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 | The author offers news-breaking account, revealing behind-the-scenes disagreements between top commanders and the internal development of the Surge strategy.
Joby Warrick | Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS | An historical look at how Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's leadership of become al-Qaida in Iraq would influence the rise of ISIL.
General Stanley McChrystal | My Share of the Task: A Memoir | A memoir of the former head of the Joint Special Operations Command during the Iraqi occupation who played a central role in defeating al-Qaida in Iraq.

Afghanistan

Author | Title | Synopsis
---|---|----
Thomas Barfield | Afghanistan:A Cultural and Political History | An examining of the competing cultural and tribal dynamics in Afghanistan's recent history through an anthropological perspective.
Seth Jones | In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan | Jones examines the insurgency in Afghanistan, arguing that weak governance and religious ideology, coupled with the American insistense on a "light footprint" are the primary drivers behind it.
Ahmed Rashid | Taliban:Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia | The authoritative account of the Taliban, explaining the Taliban’s rise to power, its impact on Afghanistan and the Middle East and Central Asia.
Ahmed Rashid | Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia | Rashid provides a detailed account of the regional context and interconnections of the Afghan conflict, insisting that the key to peace for the entire region lies with Pakistan.
James Dobbins | After the Taliban: Nation-Building in Afghanistan | Dobbins examines the first year of the intervention in Afghanistan and describes how inter-agency rivalry, aversion to nation building, opposition to the presence of peacekeepers, and refusal to send more troops and commit more resources undermined U.S. efforts.
Mark Mazzetti | The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth | An overview of the CIA's targeted killing program against terrorist organizations.