Ghost Wars; The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

New York: Penguin Books, 2004. Later Printing. Trade paperback. Good. xvii, [3], 712, [4] pages. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Index, Cover has some wear and soiling. In this prehistory of the 2001 war in Afghanistan, Steve Coll, a Washington Post editor, pieces together the alliances, intrigue, and failures of intelligence that allowed Al Qaeda to get a foothold in that country. He chronicles the disturbing role of America's supposed ally, Saudi Arabia, in building up Osama bin Laden. And he examines the historical record of the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations in regard to counterterrorism policy. Here he includes much insider information and analysis about the various intelligence agencies, their agendas, and rivalries. Coll connects America's effort to support anti-Soviet groups in Afghanistan in the 1980's with the eventual rise of Al Qaeda and, later, the events of September 11, 2001. A New York Times Notable Book for 2004. It was also the winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Steve Coll (born October 8, 1958) is an American journalist, academic and executive. He is currently the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. A staff writer for The New Yorker, he served as the president and CEO of the New America Foundation from 2007 to 2012. He is the recipient of two Pulitzer Prize awards, two Overseas Press Club Awards, a PEN American Center John Kenneth Galbraith Award, an Arthur Ross Book Award, a Livingston Award, a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, a Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award, and the Lionel Gelber Prize. Ghost Wars: won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. The book provides an in-depth account of Central Intelligence Agency activity in Afghanistan from the time of the Soviet Invasion to the aftermath of attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Particularly taken note of by Coll is the interplay between the CIA and its counterpart in Pakistan, Inter-Services Intelligence, which utilized CIA and Saudi Arabian funding to build militant Mujahideen training camps in an effort to create radicalized, militant fighters sourced from many Arab countries to attack the Soviet occupation.