Publisher's Synopsis
On page 12 the writer repeats a false and unsubstantiated claim that CIA pilots had to fly Russian MI series helicopters for Northern Alliance, whereas in reality Afghanistan never had any shortage of Afghan helicopter pilots.On page 14 the author confirms his absolute lack of knowledge of geography when he fallaciously claims that Panjsher valley slices north towards Tajikistan, whereas in reality Panjsher valley inclines towards Chitral in Pakistan towards the Northeast, ending at Anjuman Pass.The authors analysis is a clear testament of fallacious assessments of US policy makers about Afghanistan like on page-17 he discusses Al Qaeda and US policy makers obsession with Al Qaeda.As a matter of fact Al Qaeda was never the real player in Afghanistan all along . It was a puny group with limited strategic ability. The real players in Afghanistan all along were Taliban supported by Directorate S of the ISI.This basic US perceptual error repeatedly appears in Steve Colls voluminous narrative and Steve Coll himself is quite confused about it.Steve Colls factually flawed statements like page-17 where he states "Recalling the miserable fates of Imperial Britain" while referring to Britains Afghan wars.Why Coll has to make such baseless statements is perplexing. As a matter of fact all three Afghan wars were a strategic success, the first being waged by a British private company. All three Afghan wars made British strategic position in India and West Asia stronger and created a more stable Afghanistan.I guess it is fashionable in western authors to make such statements about what a terrible place Afghanistan was and is .Nowhere does the author analyse that every intelligence agency generates warnings about likely attacks so that its reputation and credibility is protected when one attack occurs.On page-37 Steve Coll admits that 9/11 was a CIA intelligence failure.Page-38 discusses the interesting finding that an inquiry board in 2005 recommended action against Cofer Black for failing to perform to professional standards at the time of 9/11.Steve Coll nowhere analyses why and how Al Qaeda succeeded in 9/11 attacks but could never repeat this performance .On page-41 Coll discusses inflated perceptions in the CIA about Afghanistan where Coffer Black thinks that four or five dozen CIA personnel may perish in the planned attack on Afghanistan in late 2001.Al Qaeda is all along exalted by Steve Coll to a very high pedestal. Like on page 50 he discusses that US policy makers feared an alliance between Al Qaeda and the Pakistani state.On page-54 Coll starts fabricating Pakistani history absolutely baselessly when he states that General Musharraf was awarded a gallantry award for action behind Indian lines in 1971, whereas in reality Musharraf never saw any action in 1971 India Pakistan War. This false statement was first mentioned in Steve Colls book and now repeated in the book under review.I interviewed General Musharrafs commanding officer Brigadier Iqbal Nazir Warraich now settled in Canada in 2005 and he dismissed this assertion of Steve Coll as absolutely baseless nonsense.
