Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 
Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll has spent years reporting from the Middle East, accessed previously classified government files and interviewed senior US officials and foreign spymasters. Here he gives the full inside story of the CIA's covert funding of an Islamic jihad against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, explores how this sowed the seeds of Bin Laden's rise, traces how he built his global network and brings to life the dramatic battles within the US government over national security. Above all, he lays bare American intelligence's continual failure to grasp the rising threat of terrorism in the years leading to 9/11 - and its devastating consequences.
This is probably the definitive work on the history of US involvement in the Afghanistan war against the Soviets and the resulting blowback.Coll begins with the Islamabad riot of 1979, in which thousands of Islamic militants laid waste to the US embassy while Zia was riding about on a bicycle distributing unrelated leaflets, and accompanied by much of his military. Did he know about the plan and make himself deliberately unavailable? It is clear that he had an agenda of his own in dealing with
Really detailed exploration of the whole nasty history of the CIA in Afghanistan, al Qeda's rise to power, and the many, many times America could have possibly prevented the 9/11 attacks. There's a lot of detail and history here. This a richly researched book. It's heartbreaking at times how politics, greed, and an unwilingness to change led to a lack of results. There's so much more in this book than I could hope to cover in a review. I give the author points for not taking sides on Democrat vs

I got this book for free by reviewing a chapter of a writing textbook for some publisher. It sat on my shelf for a year and a half while I scraped together the courage to actually read it. At 500 pages, this is one long piece of nonfiction. The title alone is exhausting. But it won a Pulitzer! So away we go. The book begins shortly before I was born, when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and erected a Communist leader. I don't remember this guy's name, but he never really had a strong grip on the
I'm not 100% sure what to make of this book. The first half, roughly until 1990 or so, is a great read on the Afghan war against the Soviet. It it interesting to read between the lines that only when the mujahedeen turned out to be pretty resilient insurgents, did the CIA ratchet up its support for the Afghans. Supported by the Saudis, the CIA relied mainly on the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, and failed to see how ISI was pursuing its own version of the common agenda with the CIA and
While waiting for the eventual paperback edition of Steve Coll's 2018 book on the Pakistan ISI, Directorate S, it seemed a good time to catch up with the 2004 updated edition of Ghost Wars, his work on the covert history of Afghanistan prior to Sept. 11, 2001. Even though Coll addresses the initial efforts of Mohammed Atta and others to assemble the team that flew planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, the book deliberately closes with the jarring events of Sept. 9/10, 2011, centered on
"Oh, okay, you want us to capture him. Right. You crazy white guys. 1979 is certainly a dividing line in my life. It was the year that Iranians stormed the embassy in Iran and took Americans hostage. This was quickly followed by the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan. I can remember thinking to myself, Why do the Iranians hate us so much and why would anyone want Afghanistan? Like most Americans, before I could actually formulate an opinion about Afghanistan, I first had to go find it on a map. If
Steve Coll
Paperback | Pages: 712 pages Rating: 4.31 | 12493 Users | 870 Reviews

Point Out Of Books Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
Title | : | Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 |
Author | : | Steve Coll |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 712 pages |
Published | : | December 28th 2004 by Penguin Books (London) (first published February 23rd 2004) |
Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. Politics. War. Military Fiction. Terrorism. Spy Thriller. Espionage |
Ilustration Supposing Books Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
The news-breaking book that has sent shockwaves through the Bush White House, Ghost Wars is the most accurate and revealing account yet of the CIA's secret involvement in al-Qaeda's evolution. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005.Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll has spent years reporting from the Middle East, accessed previously classified government files and interviewed senior US officials and foreign spymasters. Here he gives the full inside story of the CIA's covert funding of an Islamic jihad against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, explores how this sowed the seeds of Bin Laden's rise, traces how he built his global network and brings to life the dramatic battles within the US government over national security. Above all, he lays bare American intelligence's continual failure to grasp the rising threat of terrorism in the years leading to 9/11 - and its devastating consequences.
Present Books To Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
Original Title: | Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 |
ISBN: | 0143034669 (ISBN13: 9780143034667) |
Edition Language: | English |
Characters: | Osama Bin Laden |
Literary Awards: | Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (2005), Lionel Gelber Prize (2004), Arthur Ross Book Award for Gold Medal (2005), Cornelius Ryan Award (2004) |
Rating Out Of Books Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
Ratings: 4.31 From 12493 Users | 870 ReviewsAppraise Out Of Books Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
Very interesting history of warlords, diplomacy, intelligence and covert action in the region. I offers a gripping, excellent account of the 1979 attack on the US Embassy in Islamabad, an event I had never heard of before. According to Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program, the Uzbek air base from which the CIA flew the Predator UAVs was Tuzel.All those Afghan communists were educated in the USSR, right? Nope. many were actually indoctrinated in the US. Here's a breakdown of theThis is probably the definitive work on the history of US involvement in the Afghanistan war against the Soviets and the resulting blowback.Coll begins with the Islamabad riot of 1979, in which thousands of Islamic militants laid waste to the US embassy while Zia was riding about on a bicycle distributing unrelated leaflets, and accompanied by much of his military. Did he know about the plan and make himself deliberately unavailable? It is clear that he had an agenda of his own in dealing with
Really detailed exploration of the whole nasty history of the CIA in Afghanistan, al Qeda's rise to power, and the many, many times America could have possibly prevented the 9/11 attacks. There's a lot of detail and history here. This a richly researched book. It's heartbreaking at times how politics, greed, and an unwilingness to change led to a lack of results. There's so much more in this book than I could hope to cover in a review. I give the author points for not taking sides on Democrat vs

I got this book for free by reviewing a chapter of a writing textbook for some publisher. It sat on my shelf for a year and a half while I scraped together the courage to actually read it. At 500 pages, this is one long piece of nonfiction. The title alone is exhausting. But it won a Pulitzer! So away we go. The book begins shortly before I was born, when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and erected a Communist leader. I don't remember this guy's name, but he never really had a strong grip on the
I'm not 100% sure what to make of this book. The first half, roughly until 1990 or so, is a great read on the Afghan war against the Soviet. It it interesting to read between the lines that only when the mujahedeen turned out to be pretty resilient insurgents, did the CIA ratchet up its support for the Afghans. Supported by the Saudis, the CIA relied mainly on the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, and failed to see how ISI was pursuing its own version of the common agenda with the CIA and
While waiting for the eventual paperback edition of Steve Coll's 2018 book on the Pakistan ISI, Directorate S, it seemed a good time to catch up with the 2004 updated edition of Ghost Wars, his work on the covert history of Afghanistan prior to Sept. 11, 2001. Even though Coll addresses the initial efforts of Mohammed Atta and others to assemble the team that flew planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, the book deliberately closes with the jarring events of Sept. 9/10, 2011, centered on
"Oh, okay, you want us to capture him. Right. You crazy white guys. 1979 is certainly a dividing line in my life. It was the year that Iranians stormed the embassy in Iran and took Americans hostage. This was quickly followed by the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan. I can remember thinking to myself, Why do the Iranians hate us so much and why would anyone want Afghanistan? Like most Americans, before I could actually formulate an opinion about Afghanistan, I first had to go find it on a map. If
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