Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
Book Review: Ponderous "inside the Beltway" yawn
Summary: 2 Stars
I fancy myself something of a foreign policy maven, who's waded few quite a few ponderous tomes that few ordinary readers would stomach. Yet even I found it difficult to stick with this overweight, almost agonizingly dull "treatise" on the history of the Afghan rebels and Bin Laden's subsequent anti-US vendetta. Up front, the author doesn't bother to give many any sign posts about where he's headed; he just sort of launches into the story, expecting us to stay patiently along for the whole ride. He has lots of cute "inside the Beltway" details about which CIA station agent thought what about which mujehadin faction, but there are not a lot of revelations here, especially per pound. He's pretty kind to people like "Bill" Casey, former head of the CIA -- not spending much time on the fellow's "darker" side. He also doesn't provide much of a perspective on the broader strategic context, tunnelling right in from the start on Afghanistan, and largely leaving to one side the important "context" in countries like Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Without an editor, of course, that would have made it an even longer book. But perhaps because he IS an editor, Mr. Coll didn't need one. The book also adopts, in places, a kind of breezy idealization of certain Afghan rebels like Massoud, with barely disguised sneers at the bloody Soviet Army, evidently some of the "bad guys." These days, with the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan in a situation that bears some resemblance to that of the Soviets -- down to the attempted reform of Islamic values, the creation of new governments and a surrogate army -one wonders if a somewhat more balanced perspective might not be deserved. Finally, even the footnotes are a waste of time, many of them just referring to confidential interviews in general without even a time or a place.
In short -- unless you are required to read this book for some reason, or need a doorstop, just skim it in the bookstore.
Book Review: Who edits the managing editor ?
Summary: 2 Stars
Despite favorable reviews, one might ask: who dared to edit this tome ? Seemingly no one. Coll is like a draftsman; heavy on detail, good red lines, straight right angles but weak on telling a good tale and moving the story along for the general reader. The reader does not need to know of all the feuds between the Afghan tribes and the CIA and the State Department. A David Halberstam would have knocked this book off in 350 pages, Coll takes another 125 weighty pages to tell the same story. The Washington set may call it the definitive history of the CIA's involvement in the Afghan War but it is questionable if the general reading public will wade through the book to the end.Book Review: Pakistan
Summary: 4 Stars
A good read. However, far too Pakistan-centric on how events unfolded in Afghanistan. Certainly Pakistan played a major role, but not to the exclusive extent implied in the book.Book Review: Complexity is the word
Summary: 4 Stars
Ghost wars is an excellent reporting job by Steve Coll. More direct quotes would have been welcomed, but overall, the research and the reporting is enough to project an elightening view on the massively complex Afghan situation America got into after the Russian invasion up to this very day.A number of things come to light not easily communicated to the American public by our media.
1. A policy to trail and kill bin Laden and his associates was undertaken by the Clinton administration. The "wag the dog" BS of the republican zealots after the missile strike of 1998 did not encourage the administration to push using troops of any kind.
2. Pakistan's position today is extrememly delicate. They did a massive amount to aid the Taliban over the Russian invasion and up to 9/11. There should be no surprise in the difficulty that remains in getting to get "full" support on destroying the jihadis crossing the Afghan/Pakistan border. Their intelligence service is about as troubled as our own.
3. Reagan policy of arming Afgans to the teeth then abandoning them completely is one of the biggest mistakes in American foreign policy in history.
4. Clinton policy on bin Laden was scattered and non productive. The C.I.A. did little to earn the full trust of the administration with spotty intel.
5. "Does America Need the C.I.A. ?" Good question, if anybody has a good answer, tell Bush - he is still looking for Iraq's weapons.
By the very nature of our country, the intelligence services are bureaucracies. Yet the trouble with trusing the C.I.A. goes way back. Kennedy doubted them, Nixon doubted them, Ford chaired the committee to question their existence.
Real reform of the C.I.A. doesn't look rosy. If we spent $87 billion on trying to build friends in the arab world instead of bombing their back yard, maybe we'd get somewhere and wouldn't have to ask the impossible from the C.I.A. and blame them when it all goes wrong.
Book Review: Blowback
Summary: 5 Stars
The mess created in Afghanistan aleady shook the world. Islamic Extremism in one hand, AQ Khan's Nucler Proliferation on the other end --Watch out for Pakistan ! Its blowback time !