Eric Blehm cuts through the noise of high-level politicians and generals in Washington, D.C., to narrate the muddy-boots effort that enabled Hamid Karzai, then an obscure statesman, to become the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan. "The Only Thing Worth Dying For" is the untold tale of ODA 574, a team of highly trained soldiers who carried out the most politically significant mission in Operation Enduring Freedom: protecting Karzai and helping him to stage an insurgency in the Taliban's backyard. It's the story of uncommon bravery and, ultimately, terrible sacrifice, with consequences that will continue to shape Afghanistan and U.S. involvement in the region. With unprecedented access to the surviving members of ODA 574, high-level military planners, and Karzai himself, Blehm intimately exposes the realities of unconventional warfare and nation-building in Afghanistan during the three months after September 11, 2001.