Ghost Wars
I just finished Ghost Wars by Steve Coll. The book is on the CIA's work in Afghanistan from the late 70's through September 10, 2001. It also deals with US policy (or lack thereof) towards Afghanistan and the threat of Islamic extremism during that time period.
The book is professional, well written, well cited and non-partisan. If Coll has any biases, it is his very sympathetic portrayal of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance. He also shows some preference to those people who turned out to be right in their predictions or analyses (Richard Clarke, Cofer Black), while those are obvious post-hoc observations.
In terms of modern history, this is one of the better books out there and its lack of a political agenda is welcome after the waves of books that have attempted to blame one leader or one policy for our failure to prevent 9/11. As Coll shows, even as political leaders on both sides often had the best intentions, it was a systemic failure of US policy over several decades.
The book is professional, well written, well cited and non-partisan. If Coll has any biases, it is his very sympathetic portrayal of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance. He also shows some preference to those people who turned out to be right in their predictions or analyses (Richard Clarke, Cofer Black), while those are obvious post-hoc observations.
In terms of modern history, this is one of the better books out there and its lack of a political agenda is welcome after the waves of books that have attempted to blame one leader or one policy for our failure to prevent 9/11. As Coll shows, even as political leaders on both sides often had the best intentions, it was a systemic failure of US policy over several decades.
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