larry1138's review
4.0
Malcolm Hillgartner's voice once again takes me on a highly detailed journey into the depths of the precursor decades to the War on Terror. His words, written by author Steve Coll, delivers an extraordinarily detailed timeline of America's involvement in Central Asia, particularly Afghanistan, from the Soviet-Afghan war right up to September 10, 2001 as the title says.
This book is the slow motion buildup to a disaster that the reader is already quite familiar with. With that in mind, I believe, Coll was able to focus his efforts not on exploring how 9/11 happened (there are numerous volumes and a Congressional report already detailing that aspect of modern Afghan history) but the background to it. The reader is introduced to the incredibly complex world of Central Asian politics, but Coll does a good job of breaking everything down for the reader. While I will let Coll explain to you that detail, what I can offer in this review is assurance that this read is incredibly worthwhile if you don't mind some dense detail.
But at the time of this writing, the United States is engaged in pulling all its forces out of Afghanistan by September 2021. Perhaps it would be a good idea to look at history to see how we got to this point, and observe how a power vacuum in Afghanistan with a resurgent Taliban may play out. Not that 1996 is the same as 2021 by any stretch of the imagination, let's not be foolish here. Al Qaeda may not find as friendly a haven in Afghanistan as they once did, and the Taliban, despite their massive territorial "dominance", may have a more difficult time conquering the country if Kabul receives more foreign aide from the U.S.
What Ghost Wars does is show how history rhymes. You will be escorted through the tragic timeline of post Soviet invasion Afghanistan. You'll see how the CIA lent Stinger missiles to mujaheddin to counter Spetznaz helicopter raids. You'll witness the intense fighting between Hekmatyar's Islamists and Massoud's Tajiks. You'll explore the backroom politics of how Saudi Arabia and the Pakistani intelligence service ISI supported the expansion of the new religious student movement called the Taliban. You'll witness how a wealthy, educated man called Osama bin Laden broke with his Saudi family to lay the groundwork for a truly global Islamist terror network beyond anything done before. You'll witness how multiple U.S. Presidents of both parties shrugged their shoulders at Afghanistan (a country with little import to the sole remaining superpower in the world), much to the chagrin of intelligence analysts who had been sounding alarms about the rising threat of Al Qaeda.
Coll has since written a follow up book, which I intend to read/listen to quite soon. I expect the same level of high quality research and therefore a similarly riveting true story of the post 9/11 War on Terror up till 2019. Even leaving Coll's work, this book fits in well with other highly detailed history books I've read about Central Asia, the War on Terror, and terror groups.
A high recommend from me. Americans should start learning about The Long War so as to not repeat it once again.
This book is the slow motion buildup to a disaster that the reader is already quite familiar with. With that in mind, I believe, Coll was able to focus his efforts not on exploring how 9/11 happened (there are numerous volumes and a Congressional report already detailing that aspect of modern Afghan history) but the background to it. The reader is introduced to the incredibly complex world of Central Asian politics, but Coll does a good job of breaking everything down for the reader. While I will let Coll explain to you that detail, what I can offer in this review is assurance that this read is incredibly worthwhile if you don't mind some dense detail.
But at the time of this writing, the United States is engaged in pulling all its forces out of Afghanistan by September 2021. Perhaps it would be a good idea to look at history to see how we got to this point, and observe how a power vacuum in Afghanistan with a resurgent Taliban may play out. Not that 1996 is the same as 2021 by any stretch of the imagination, let's not be foolish here. Al Qaeda may not find as friendly a haven in Afghanistan as they once did, and the Taliban, despite their massive territorial "dominance", may have a more difficult time conquering the country if Kabul receives more foreign aide from the U.S.
What Ghost Wars does is show how history rhymes. You will be escorted through the tragic timeline of post Soviet invasion Afghanistan. You'll see how the CIA lent Stinger missiles to mujaheddin to counter Spetznaz helicopter raids. You'll witness the intense fighting between Hekmatyar's Islamists and Massoud's Tajiks. You'll explore the backroom politics of how Saudi Arabia and the Pakistani intelligence service ISI supported the expansion of the new religious student movement called the Taliban. You'll witness how a wealthy, educated man called Osama bin Laden broke with his Saudi family to lay the groundwork for a truly global Islamist terror network beyond anything done before. You'll witness how multiple U.S. Presidents of both parties shrugged their shoulders at Afghanistan (a country with little import to the sole remaining superpower in the world), much to the chagrin of intelligence analysts who had been sounding alarms about the rising threat of Al Qaeda.
Coll has since written a follow up book, which I intend to read/listen to quite soon. I expect the same level of high quality research and therefore a similarly riveting true story of the post 9/11 War on Terror up till 2019. Even leaving Coll's work, this book fits in well with other highly detailed history books I've read about Central Asia, the War on Terror, and terror groups.
A high recommend from me. Americans should start learning about The Long War so as to not repeat it once again.
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