Ghost Wars · the Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2011
- Authors
- Coll, Steve
- Publisher
- The Penguin Press
- Tags
- politics , war , political freedom & security , intelligence , usa , central asia , central intelligence agency , political freedom & security - terrorism , political , international relations - general , history , biography & autobiography , afghanistan - history - soviet occupation; 1979-1989. , soviet occupation; 1979-1989 , united states , political science , conspiracy & scandal investigations , international relations , asia , history - general history , espionage & secret services , afghanistan , terrorism , united states. , asia - central asia , general & world history , political structure & processes , afghanistan - history - 1989-2001. , international security , u.s. government - intelligence agencies , u.s. foreign relations , general , postwar 20th century history; from c 1945 to c 2000
- ISBN
- 9781594200076
- Date
- 2004-02-23T00:00:00+00:00
- Size
- 0.75 MB
- Lang
- en
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.