Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 | 
 enlarge | Author: Steve Coll
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Category: Book
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Rating:  146 reviews
Sales Rank: 52597
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 720
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.5 x 2
ISBN: 1594200076
Dewey Decimal Number: 958.1045
EAN: 9781594200076
ASIN: 1594200076
Publication Date: February 23, 2004
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Amazon.com Review
Steve Coll's Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 offers revealing details of the CIA's involvement in the evolution of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the years before the September 11 attacks. From the beginning, Coll shows how the CIA's on-again, off-again engagement with Afghanistan after the end of the Soviet war left officials at Langley with inadequate resources and intelligence to appreciate the emerging power of the Taliban. He also demonstrates how Afghanistan became a deadly playing field for international politics where Soviet, Pakistani, and U.S. agents armed and trained a succession of warring factions. At the same time, the book, though opinionated, is not solely a critique of the agency. Coll balances accounts of CIA failures with the success stories, like the capture of Mir Amal Kasi. Coll, managing editor for the Washington Post, covered Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992. He demonstrates unprecedented access to records of White House meetings and to formerly classified material, and his command of Saudi, Pakistani, and Afghani politics is impressive. He also provides a seeming insider's perspective on personalities like George Tenet, William Casey, and anti-terrorism czar, Richard Clarke ("who seemed to wield enormous power precisely because hardly anyone knew who he was or what exactly he did for a living"). Coll manages to weave his research into a narrative that sometimes has the feel of a Tom Clancy novel yet never crosses into excess. While comprehensive, Coll's book may be hard going for those looking for a direct account of the events leading to the 9-11 attacks. The CIA's 1998 engagement with bin Laden as a target for capture begins a full two-thirds of the way into Ghost Wars, only after a lengthy march through developments during the Carter, Reagan, and early Clinton Presidencies. But this is not a critique of Coll's efforts; just a warning that some stamina is required to keep up. Ghost Wars is a complex study of intelligence operations and an invaluable resource for those seeking a nuanced understanding of how a small band of extremists rose to inflict incalculable damage on American soil. --Patrick O'Kelley
Product Description
From the managing editor of the Washington Post, a news-breaking account of the CIA's involvement in the covert wars in Afghanistan that fueled Islamic militancy and gave rise to bin Laden's al Qaeda.
For nearly the past quarter century, while most Americans were unaware, Afghanistan has been the playing field for intense covert operations by U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies-invisible wars which sowed the seeds of the September 11 attacks and which provide its context. From the Soviet invasion in 1979 through the summer of 2001, the CIA, KGB, Pakistan's ISI, and Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Department all operated directly and secretly in Afghanistan. They primed Afghan factions with cash and weapons, secretly trained guerrilla forces, funded propaganda, and manipulated politics. In the midst of these struggles bin Laden conceived and then built his global organization.
Comprehensively and for the first time, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll tells the secret history of the CIA's role in Afghanistan, from its covert program against Soviet troops from 1979 to 1989, to the rise of the Taliban and the emergence of bin Laden, to the secret efforts by CIA officers and their agents to capture or kill bin Laden in Afghanistan after 1998. Based on extensive firsthand accounts, Ghost Warsok is the inside story that goes well beyond anything previously published on U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. It chronicles the roles of midlevel CIA officers, their Afghan allies, and top spy masters such as Bill Casey, Saudi Arabia's Prince Turki al Faisal, and George Tenet. And it describes heated debates within the American government and the often poisonous, mistrustful relations between the CIA and foreign intelligence agencies.
Ghost Wars answers the questions so many have asked since the horrors of September 11: To what extent did America's best intelligence analysts grasp the rising threat of Islamist radicalism? Who tried to stop bin Laden and why did they fail?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 141 more reviews...
 Yes, it actually is a page-turner! December 27, 2008
I almost didn't read this book. I mean, it's pretty big. And it didn't really look like it would be the "storytelling" kind of history I had previously been reading. But I went for it. And it was actually quite easy to read the 500-plus pages that chronicle the relationship between the US, Pakistan, and Afghanistan up through September 10, 2001. Despite the fairly detailed information in this book, it was a bit of a page-turner.
For anyone interested in putting the US-Pakistan relationship (especially regarding terrorism) into context, this book is a must-read. As it is for understanding how Afghanistan got to the state it was in seven years ago. Coll explains how the CIA dealt (or failed to deal) with the mujaheddin, how the Pakistani intelligence colluded with terrorist groups and the Taliban, using US money to run operations that ran counter to US interests, and how Pakistani heads of state (such as the belated Benazir Bhutto) telling bald-faced lies to US officials. It's certainly an ambitious read, but if you're interested in the topic, it won't be a hard one.
The best so far on this topic December 13, 2008
A long well written book on that shows how after the failure of Soviet invasion, Afghanistan descended into a battlefield where countries and movements with different ideologies clashed with their respective agendas.
Although after reading this book, I am not so sure as the writer suggests that a more pro-active US policy have made that much difference in the country unless it was willing to send in ground forces.
Excellent Eye Opening Account of the Secret Ties Between CIA and ISI. December 10, 2008
To me this was one of the best account of dirty secrets of the intelligence agencies. The coordination and communication between CIA and Pakistani Intelligence Agency ISI and the routine betrayal by ISI and misuse of funds. This book also clearly indicates how CIA bet on the wrong horse by backing ISI instead of Northern Front or in particular Ahmed Shah Masood. The book also throws a light about the red tape and American bureaucracy our intelligence community has to deal with and we care more about the rights of those who would not even blink an eye before destroying us. All in all a must read book for anyone who cares about the world's most dangerous region Afghanistan - Peshawar border.
This is the book if you want to understand Afghanistan November 25, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am back in Afghanistan for my third tour. If you want to really understand what happened between the Russian invasion and 9-11-2001,
this is really all you need to read. It explains CIA ops, the Mujahadeen,
the rise of the Taliban vice the Paki ISI, the civil wars, everything.
It is a true story told in such compelling fashion that you think you are reading a fiction novel. After the first 10 pages, it's hard to put down.
I bought a dozen copies to provide my people so they would understand why we are here now.
Thank you Steve Coll!!! October 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Very well written and keeps your attention. Very detailed and fact based. The author is as unbiased as they come. I came into this book embarassingly ignorant about international politics, especially the events leading up to September 11, 2001. I feel thankful toward the author for putting together such complex information in a straight forward, but captivating way - a way that lets even the most unaware reader begin to understand the whirlwind of money, politics, fanaticism, and international counter-interests that intersect to create the horrors of tomorrow. I was amazed at how much the US government played a hand in fostering Taliban and al Qaeda. A hand full of tunnel vissioned, post cold-war mongering CIA agents and senators operating with a unconscionable amount power financed, encouraged, and then ignored the mounting threats from the jihadists.
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