Longform Best of 2013

How the United States came to spend more on defense than all the other nations of the world combined.

Last fall, a team of American Special Forces arrived in Nerkh, a district just west of Kabul. Six months later, amid allegations of torturing and murdering locals, the team was gone. Shortly after they left, the remains of 10 missing villagers were found outside their vacated base. An investigation into a possible war crime.

On decorated sniper Chris Kyle and the troubled young veteran who took his life.

After two tours in Iraq, the writer returns to a volatile region of Afghanistan as an embedded journalist.

As NATO leaves, the Afghan National Army grapples with a resilient Taliban.