Ghost Wars

Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion to the eve of September 2001 is the territory Steve Coll covers, tracing what intelligence services, governments and armed groups did in that period and why. Ghost Wars is reported history built on interviews and documentary research, following the CIA, the Pakistani and Saudi services and the Afghan factions through two decades of shifting alliances. Coll explains institutional decisions without editorialising, and the narrative keeps a very large cast legible. The book won the Pulitzer Prize and remains a standard reference on the region's recent past. Why it still matters: • Two decades of Afghan and regional history in one reported account • Research drawn from interviews and documentary sources • Clear explanation of how intelligence agencies and factions interacted • A Pulitzer Prize winner still cited in writing on the region Valuable to readers of history, students of international relations and journalists, stocked by Boipoka.