Wesley Morgan wins Colby award for ‘The Hardest Place’

NEW YORK (AP) — Author and journalist Wesley Morgan is this year’s winner of the William E. Colby Award for military and intelligence writing. He was cited for his book “The Hardest Place: The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan’s Pech Valley.” The Colby award, a $5,000 prize named for the former ambassador and CIA director, is given for “a major contribution to the understanding of military history, intelligence operations or international affairs.” Morgan was a college student when he began embedding with military units in Afghanistan, more than a decade ago. He has since reported on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for The New York Times, the Washington Post and other outlets.