Review by Sabrina Pecorelli

The short:

A complex history of the CIA’s covert involvement in Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion in 1979 that enabled Islamic militancy to the rise of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda’s attacks on September 11th, 2001.  

The long:

Ghost Wars sheds light on the invisible and unseen battles that took place leading up to the September 11th attacks perpetrated by Al Qaeda. The book emphasizes the role that the CIA played, as well as Pakistani and Saudi intelligence, in shaping the conflict in Afghanistan and fueling the rise of Osama bin Laden.  

Narrated through firsthand accounts of government officials, intelligence officers, and military personnel, this book offers an incredible range of opinions and anecdotes that paints a fascinating picture of what happened behind the scenes leading up to 9/11. It tackles the rise of the Taliban, the secret arm sales between CIA officers and Afghan ministers, the civil war that went unnoticed by the United States, as well as bin Laden’s geopolitical role in the conflict. 

It is broken down into three sections: the first part is from 1979 to 1989 and it looks at CIA’s involvement helping Afghan rebels fight the Soviet invasion. The second part begins with the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 and spans until 1998 encompassing the United States’ retreat and the rise of the Taliban, the full radicalization of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda’s growth into an international terrorist organization. The third and last part goes from early 1998 until September 10th, 2001 as it incorporates the CIA’s return to covert operations in Afghanistan and the Clinton administration’s pursuit of bin Laden. The book ends on the day before the attacks of September 11th, 2001.

The read or not to read:

For those who are as fascinated by clandestine operations and terrorist organizations as I am, this book serves as a wonderful resource to learn and understand the history that led to 9/11. I especially liked that it included various facts and stories that are not popularly known about the Taliban’s rise or the CIA-Afghan interactions. The author did a great job in adding in a lot of small but powerful details that you wouldn’t find in mainstream news articles.