Winner of the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for
Nonfiction Longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award for
Nonfiction From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars,
the epic and enthralling story of America's intelligence, military,
and diplomatic efforts to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban in
Afghanistan and Pakistan since 9/11 Prior to 9/11, the United
States had been carrying out small-scale covert operations in
Afghanistan, ostensibly in cooperation, although often in direct
opposition, with I.S.I., the Pakistani intelligence agency. While
the US was trying to quell extremists, a highly secretive and
compartmentalized wing of I.S.I., known as "Directorate S," was
covertly training, arming, and seeking to legitimize the Taliban,
in order to enlarge Pakistan's sphere of influence. After 9/11,
when fifty-nine countries, led by the U. S., deployed troops or
provided aid to Afghanistan in an effort to flush out the Taliban
and Al Qaeda, the U.S. was set on an invisible slow-motion
collision course with Pakistan. Today we know that the war in
Afghanistan would falter badly because of military hubris at the
highest levels of the Pentagon, the drain on resources and
provocation in the Muslim world caused by the U.S.-led invasion of
Iraq, and corruption. But more than anything, as Coll makes
painfully clear, the war in Afghanistan was doomed because of the
failure of the United States to apprehend the motivations and
intentions of I.S.I.'s "Directorate S". This was a swirling and
shadowy struggle of historic proportions, which endured over a
decade and across both the Bush and Obama administrations,
involving multiple secret intelligence agencies, a litany of
incongruous strategies and tactics, and dozens of players,
including some of the most prominent military and political
figures. A sprawling American tragedy, the war was an open clash of
arms but also a covert melee of ideas, secrets, and subterranean
violence. Coll excavates this grand battle, which took place away
from the gaze of the American public. With unsurpassed expertise,
original research, and attention to detail, he brings to life a
narrative at once vast and intricate, local and global, propulsive
and painstaking. This is the definitive explanation of how America
came to be so badly ensnared in an elaborate, factional, and
seemingly interminable conflict in South Asia. Nothing less than a
forensic examination of the personal and political forces that
shape world history, Directorate S is a complete masterpiece of
both investigative and narrative journalism.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
