Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (Pulitzer Prize Winner)Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction • A New York Times bestseller “The CIA itself would be hard put to beat his grasp of global events . . . Deeply satisfying.” —The New York Review of Books From the award-winning and bestselling author of Directorate S and The Achilles Trap comes the explosive first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan. To what extent did America’s best intelligence analysts grasp the rising thread of Islamist radicalism? Who tried to stop bin Laden and why did they fail? Comprehensively and for the first time, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll recounts the history of the covert wars in Afghanistan that fueled Islamic militancy and sowed the seeds of the September 11 attacks. Based on scrupulous research and firsthand accounts by key government, intelligence, and military personnel both foreign and American, Ghost Wars details the secret history of the CIA’s role in Afghanistan (including its covert operations against Soviet troops from 1979 to 1989), the rise of the Taliban, the emergence of bin Laden, and the failed efforts by U.S. forces to find and assassinate bin Laden in Afghanistan. |
Contents
Praise About the Author | |
Title Page Copyright Page Dedication | |
Authors Note Prologue | |
Were Going to Die Here | |
Lenin Taught Us | |
Go Raise Hell | |
I Loved Osama | |
Dangling the Carrot | |
We Couldnt Indict Him | |
Were Keeping These Stingers | |
Does America Need the CIA? | |
You Are to Capture Him Alive | |
The Kingdoms Interests | |
We Are at War | |
Lets Just Blow the Thing Up Chapter 25 The Manson Family | |
Dont Make It Our War | |
Who Is This Massoud? | |
The Terrorists Will Own the World | |
Inshallah You Will Know My Plans | |
We Won | |
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 | |
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Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden Steve Coll Limited preview - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
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