Steve Coll - Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2011

PRAISE FOR GHOST WARS

Ghost Wars, Steve Colls objectiveand terrificaccount of the long and tragic history leading up to September 11, is... certainly the finest historical narrative so far on the origins of al Qaeda.... Colls riveting narrative makes the reader want to rip the page and yell at the American counterterrorism officials he describesincluding Clarkeand tell them to watch out.

James Risen, The New York Times Book Review

A long overdue look at the peaks and valleys of the CIAs presence in Afghanistan through the decades leading to September 10, 2001... a wellwritten, authoritative, high-altitude drama with few heroes, many villains, bags of cash, and a tragic endingone that may not have been inevitable.

James Bamford, The Washington Post

Terrifying and substantive... Coll offers a surprisingly cohesive narrative of the makings of September 11, 2001.

Suzy Hans, Salon

Mr. Colls book is well documented... Indeed, of the more than one hundred published books dealing with the September 11th attacks... none approach Mr. Colls work for clarity and insight into the agency itself.... truly a page turner... an important work.

Andrew Wolf, The New York Sun

Gripping new history of the events leading up to September 11, 2001... Coll never simplifies a complex situation.

John Hartl, The Seattle Times

Colls research is extensive; his access to senior officials of all the principal countries involved in Afghanistan is nothing short of astounding.... With this book, Coll establishes a reputation as large as that of his Post colleague, Bob Woodward.

Wesley K. Wark, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

Goes a long way toward explaining the systemic errors that caused the United States, through five administrations, to fail its most important foreign policy challenge since World War II.... A powerful book, impeccably reported, containing hundreds of interviews with the principals in the U.S. intelligence and national security establishments.

John Dinges, Newsday

Steve Coll has distilled the essence of what led to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks... highly readable... Beyond that, he did it while holding one of the most demanding jobs in American journalism. That anyone could write a book while holding such a job is quite an accomplishment, writing such a compelling narrative about terrorism and the failures of American intelligence is a triumph.

Ray Locker, The Associated Press

No one else I know of has been able to bring such a broad perspective to bear on the rise of bin Laden; the CIA itself would be hard put to beat his grasp of global events.... Colls book is deeply satisfying because... its an inside account written by an outsider, the most objective history I have read of the many failures of the CIA and the U.S. government in the region.

Ahmed Rashid, The New York Review of Books

PENGUIN BOOKS

GHOST WARS

Winner of a 1990 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism, Steve Coll has been managing editor of The Washington Post since 1998 and covered Afghanistan as the Posts South Asia bureau chief between 1989 and 1992. Coll is the author of four books, including On the Grand Trunk Road and The Taking of Getty Oil. He lives with his wife and three children in Maryland.

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First published in the United States of America by The Penguin Press,

a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 2004

Published in Penguin Books 2005

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Copyright Steve Coll, 2004

All rights reserved

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE HARDCOVER EDITION AS FOLLOWS:

Coll, Steve.

Ghost wars : the secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet invasion to September 10, 2001 / Steve Coll.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-59420-007-6 (hc.)

ISBN 0 14 30.3466 9 (pbk.)

1. AfghanistanHistorySoviet occupation, 19791989. 2. AfghanistanHistory19892001. 3. United States. Central Intelligence Agency. 4. Bin Laden, Osama, 1957 . I. Title.

DS371.2.C63 2004

958.104'5dc22 2003058593

Printed in the United States of America

Designed by Amanda Dewey

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

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For Susan,

who understood

AUTHORS NOTE

Griff Witte, a 2000 graduate in history from Princeton University and a former reporter for the Miami Herald, worked for more than a year as my assistant on this book. He was a full partner in every respect. He contributed research, reporting, writing, editing, and ideas. He traveled to Afghanistan, Dubai, and across the United States to conduct interviews with dozens of sources. He wrote outstanding first drafts of chapters six and seventeen. His intelligence, persistence, resourcefulness, and high standards strengthened the book elsewhere in countless ways. He was an ideal collaborator and essential to the entire project.

Contents

September 1996

November 1979 to February 1989

March 1989 to December 1997

January 1998 to September 10, 2001

The Central Intelligence Agency

FRANK ANDERSON, Director, Afghanistan Task Force, 19871989; Chief, Near East Division, Directorate of Operations, 19911994

MILTON BEARDEN, Chief of Station, Islamabad, 19861989

J. COFER BLACK, Chief of Station, Khartoum, 19931995; Director, Counterterrorist Center, 19992002

WILLIAM J. CASEY, Director, 19811987

DUANE R. DEWEY CLARRIDGE, Director, Counterterrorist Center, 19861988

JOHN DEUTCH, Director, 19951997

ROBERT GATES, Director, 19911993

HOWARD HART, Chief of Station, Islamabad, 19811984

JEFF OCONNELL, Director, Counterterrorist Center, 19971999

JAMES PAVITT, Deputy Director, Operations, 1999

WILLIAM PIEKNEY, Chief of Station, Islamabad, 19841986

PAUL PILLAR, Senior Analyst, later Deputy Director, Counterterrorist Center, 19931999

RICH, Chief, Bin Laden Unit, Counterterrorist Center, 19992001

MICHAEL F. SCHEUER, Chief, Bin Laden Unit, Counterterrorist Center, 19961999

GARY SCHROEN, Case Officer, Islamabad, 19781980; Chief of Stationdesignate, Kabul, 19881990; Chief of Station, Islamabad, 19961999; Deputy Chief, Near East Division, Directorate of Operations, 19992001