Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden,from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001,

The events of 9/11 led many in the United States to wonder what had actu- ally led up to that fateful day. Who was to blame? How could the United States, with its multibillion-dollar intelligence and defense budgets, have allowed such a thing to happen? In Ghost Wars, Steve Coll provides a useful, if overly long, chronology and analysis of pivotal events, missteps, indecision, apathy, and ultimately tragedy up to the day be- fore the attacks. Coll, who served as the managing editor for the Washington Post until 2004, was the paper’s South Asia bureau chief from 1989 to 1992