Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize From the award-winning and bestselling author of Directorate
S the explosive first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan To what extent
did America's best intelligence analysts grasp the rising thread of Islamist radicalism? Who
tried to stop bin Laden and why did they fail? Comprehensively and for the first time Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll recounts the history of the covert wars in Afghanistan that
fueled Islamic militancy and sowed the seeds of the September 11 attacks. Based on scrupulous
research and firsthand accounts by key government intelligence and military personnel both
foreign and American Ghost Wars details the secret history of the CIA's role in Afghanistan
(including its covert operations against Soviet troops from 1979 to 1989) the rise of the
Taliban the emergence of bin Laden and the failed efforts by U.S. forces to find and
assassinate bin Laden in Afghanistan.
