The beginning of the Afghan war
I recently read two books about the early days of the war in Afghanistan and found both worthwhile.
First In, An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan is by Gary C. Schroen and was published in 2005.
Horse Soldier, by Doug Stanton is of more recent vintage, but both books give perspective on how we were able to help the Northern Alliance drive the Taliban out of power.
First In begins as Schroen is about to leave the CIA for retirement. One of the remarkable early scenes finds Schroen and other clandestine service members of the CIA finding out about the 9-11 attacks like the rest of us by watching the events unfold on TV. But the retirement was postponed and Schroen's connections with the Northern Alliance were soon put to use.
He and a team of CIA officers were set down in Afghanistan after a scary ride over peaks that challenged the abilities of an old Russian chopper. Their main weapon initially was the bags of cash they brought with them which was parceled out to various commanders so they could buy weapons and uniforms. Their biggest battles were with intestinal disease.
Other teams were sent in to help the war lords around Mazar-e Sharif the most famous of which was Gen. Dotsom.
Stanton's book covers that aspect of the war in much more detail and focuses on the special ops troops who endured great hardship to help the Afghan's succeed with the help of precision US bombing raids that broke the back and the spirit of the Taliban. They too had harrowing rides over the mountains on choppers and later on horseback.
One of the things that comes across in both books is the bravery of the Afghan warriors they fought with and the affection they had for each other.
Recently there have been suggestions that Gen. Dotsom was responsible for a massacre of Taliban prisoners near the end of this part of the war. It is a much more complicated story than has been presented by much of the media. After the Taliban were driven from Mazar-e Sharif a large group of them feigned a surrender and were taken into a fortress that was controlled by Dotsom's men. While he and his main force were in Konduz attempting to wrap up the remnants of the surviving Taliban, the "prisoners revolted and killed several people including CIA officer Mike Spann. By the time this revolt was put down there were only 89 suriviors out of a groups of about 600. One of the survivors was John Walker Lindh, who was called the American Taliban. He was allegedly aware of the revolt and failed to tell Spann and others what was coming.
Lindh was taken with some other prisoners and held in steel shipping containers until he could be processed and questioned. That was the fate of the survivors who were captured at Konduz also. I suspect they were put in the crates because it was the most secure way to hold them and there was a lack of trust after the feigned surrender. Some of those in the containers died from wounds received either before or after they were captured.
Some liberals in Washington have tried to turn these events into a war crime. They seem to overlook the depravity of the Taliban that were captured and the resources available to deal with them. Many of these Taliban were responsible for genocidal attacks in Mazar-e Sharif when the Taliban first captured it. They are a strange group to waste sympathy on.
I liked both books and I think if you read them together you will get a new appreciation of what this small group of Americans accomplished with the help of some brave Afghans. One of those Afghans who appears prominently in Schroen's book is Dr. Abdullah who is now running for President of Afghanistan. I found myself even more impressed with him than I already was from watching interviews with him during this phase of the war.
First In, An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan is by Gary C. Schroen and was published in 2005.
Horse Soldier, by Doug Stanton is of more recent vintage, but both books give perspective on how we were able to help the Northern Alliance drive the Taliban out of power.
First In begins as Schroen is about to leave the CIA for retirement. One of the remarkable early scenes finds Schroen and other clandestine service members of the CIA finding out about the 9-11 attacks like the rest of us by watching the events unfold on TV. But the retirement was postponed and Schroen's connections with the Northern Alliance were soon put to use.
He and a team of CIA officers were set down in Afghanistan after a scary ride over peaks that challenged the abilities of an old Russian chopper. Their main weapon initially was the bags of cash they brought with them which was parceled out to various commanders so they could buy weapons and uniforms. Their biggest battles were with intestinal disease.
Other teams were sent in to help the war lords around Mazar-e Sharif the most famous of which was Gen. Dotsom.
Stanton's book covers that aspect of the war in much more detail and focuses on the special ops troops who endured great hardship to help the Afghan's succeed with the help of precision US bombing raids that broke the back and the spirit of the Taliban. They too had harrowing rides over the mountains on choppers and later on horseback.
One of the things that comes across in both books is the bravery of the Afghan warriors they fought with and the affection they had for each other.
Recently there have been suggestions that Gen. Dotsom was responsible for a massacre of Taliban prisoners near the end of this part of the war. It is a much more complicated story than has been presented by much of the media. After the Taliban were driven from Mazar-e Sharif a large group of them feigned a surrender and were taken into a fortress that was controlled by Dotsom's men. While he and his main force were in Konduz attempting to wrap up the remnants of the surviving Taliban, the "prisoners revolted and killed several people including CIA officer Mike Spann. By the time this revolt was put down there were only 89 suriviors out of a groups of about 600. One of the survivors was John Walker Lindh, who was called the American Taliban. He was allegedly aware of the revolt and failed to tell Spann and others what was coming.
Lindh was taken with some other prisoners and held in steel shipping containers until he could be processed and questioned. That was the fate of the survivors who were captured at Konduz also. I suspect they were put in the crates because it was the most secure way to hold them and there was a lack of trust after the feigned surrender. Some of those in the containers died from wounds received either before or after they were captured.
Some liberals in Washington have tried to turn these events into a war crime. They seem to overlook the depravity of the Taliban that were captured and the resources available to deal with them. Many of these Taliban were responsible for genocidal attacks in Mazar-e Sharif when the Taliban first captured it. They are a strange group to waste sympathy on.
I liked both books and I think if you read them together you will get a new appreciation of what this small group of Americans accomplished with the help of some brave Afghans. One of those Afghans who appears prominently in Schroen's book is Dr. Abdullah who is now running for President of Afghanistan. I found myself even more impressed with him than I already was from watching interviews with him during this phase of the war.
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