When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, pressure mounted to support the Afghan resistance. The book tells for the first time the story of what became the largest covert operation in history - eventually costing more than $1 billion per year - with a vivid cast of characters, including Charlie Wilson, maverick congressman and party animal; Gust Avrakotos, the ruthless head of the CIA operation in Afghanistan; and General Zia, president of Pakistan.
Moving from the meeting rooms in Washington to secret chambers in CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia; to arms-dealing conventions , to stand offs in the Khyber Pass, My Enemy's Enemy is brilliantly reported - one of the most detailed and compulsively readable accounts of the workings of the CIA ever written.This book is a eye-popping account of the last battle of the cold war, one that weakened the Soviet Union and assisted in its collapse - paving the way, of course, for the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
I can only aspire to the kind of financial security enjoyed by the US government in the 1980s as it bought herds of donkeys for a covert war (and helped an Egyptian military officer prank his Pakistani counterpart in the process). Man, the 80s really were a different time.
