Ghost Wars cover art

Ghost Wars

The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

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Ghost Wars

Written by: Steve Coll
Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
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Buy Now for ₹879.00

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About this listen

Pulitzer Prize, General Nonfiction, 2005

Lionel Gelber Prize

New York Times Notable Book

The explosive first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan.

With the publication of Ghost Wars, Steve Coll became not only a Pulitzer Prize winner, but also the expert on the rise of the Taliban, the emergence of Bin Laden, and the secret efforts by CIA officers and their agents to capture or kill Bin Laden in Afghanistan after 1998.

©2011 Steve Coll (P)2011 Penguin Asia Middle East Military Wars & Conflicts

Critic Reviews

“Certainly the finest historical narrative so far on the origins of al Qaeda in the post-Soviet rubble of Afghanistan . . . Ghost Wars provides fresh details and helps explain the motivations behind many crucial decisions.”—The New York Times Book Review

“The CIA itself would be hard put to beat his grasp of global events . . . Deeply satisfying.”—The New York Review of Books

“A well written, authoritative, high-altitude drama with few heroes, many villains, bags of cash, and a tragic ending—one that may not have been inevitable.”—The Washington Post
Most relevant  
Audio skips at a number of points and in multiple chapters. May be there's not enough space between various sentences.

Great Book....but audio quality is not great....

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Loved this narrative of steve for 90s in south east Asia, but sad with fact that when i started listening this book ,Afghanistan again fall back in clutches of Taliban. Sad with current developments but hopeful for coming days.

Compelling at every page

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Very elaborate account of birth and struggle of CIA and it's role in Afganistan. How the people in power deprioritise national interests and how overall auD policy towards middle east and south Asia has panned out in last few decades.

How they created the monster

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Brilliant. A must read for anyone who is interested in the history and making of 9/11 attacks

Five stars

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Book provides a good perspective on post cold war forces shaping the geo politics , real emerging threats to global peace and complexities that even the most powerful , resourceful nations in the world couldn’t fathom, be decisive on policy and their larger role on global threats . Good narration!!

Insightful and detailed

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It provides great insights of what conspired behind the scenes till the day of carnage, how the political games were played, how governments were appeasing each other. The core focus though lies on CIAs strategy throughout, criticising the agency, but also the govt plots behind the scene. I felt what was missing, the other side of the story, which was briefly shared on the afghan side but how it effected the people over there in the years of turmoil. Well with taliban taking over Afghanistan now, it seems no lessons were learnt from the history.

Overall a very good book.

Great insights

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The flow and the information is fabulous. Well researched and presented. Congratulations to tbe author and narrator.

Excellent

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Plenty of information on the origin of cross border terrorism. The book shows how the covert war against the erstwhile Soviet Union led to the current threat of global radical terrorism. There are some places where the audio suddenly cuts off and some mistakes in pronouncing military hardware (Mi 17 ) is pronounced as Mig 17 . Otherwise a good listen.

Rich in history

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very impressive book. must read for people who love these topics.
brief, precise and fluid story telling.

very informative, nicely edited. fluid reading

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wonderful book to understand the rise of radical Islam and Al-Qaeda. The war of Afghanistan was presented in a wonderful way

Amazing book

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