Waubonsee Community College

Ghost wars, the secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet invasion to September 10, 2001, Steve Coll

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 653-664) and index

maps

index present

non fiction

Ghost wars

bibliography

52814066

Steve Coll

the secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet invasion to September 10, 2001

An 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. The author 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, this story 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

Prologue: Accounts receivable, September 1996 -- Blood brothers : November 1979 to February 1989: We're going to die here ; Lenin taught us ; Go raise hell ; I loved Osama ; Don't make it our war ; Who is this Massoud? ; The terrorists will own the world ; Inshallah, you will know my plans ; We won -- The one-eyed man was king : March 1989 to December 1997: Serious risks ; A rogue elephant ; We are in danger ; A friend of your enemy ; Maintain a prudent distance ; A new generation ; Slowly, slowly sucked into it ; Dangling the carrot ; We couldn't indict him ; We're keeping these Stingers ; Does America need the CIA? -- The distant enemy : January 1989 to September 10, 2001. 21: You are to capture him alive ; The kingdom's interest ; We are at war ; Let's just blow the thing up ; The Manson family ; The unit disappeared ; You crazy white guys ; Is there any policy? ; Daring me to kill them ; What face will Omar show to God? ; Many Americans are going to die ; What an unlucky country

Secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet invasion to September 10, 2001