Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism - Hardcover

Cooley, John K.

3.76

136 ratings by Goodreads

9780745313283: Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0745313280 ISBN 13: 9780745313283

Publisher: Pluto Press, 1999

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To oppose the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the US formed an extraordinary anti-communist alliance with militant Islamic forces in Central Asia. In this controversial book, John Cooley provides a behind-the-scenes account of this alliance and of how the CIA planned and ran the "holy war" in Afghanistan. Cooley describes the development of US foreign policy and CIA covert activity in the 1980s, which facilitated the training and arming of almost a quarter of a million Islamic mercenaries drawn from across the Arab world. Cooley marshals evidence to demonstrate the devastating consequences of this training once the mercenaries returned to their own countries - from the assassination of Sadat, the destabilisation of Algeria and Chechenya and the emergence of the Taliban, to the bombings of the World Trade Centre and the US embassies in Africa. Cooley examines the crucial role of Pakistan's military intelligence organisation; uncovers China's involvement and its aftermath; the extent of Saudi financial support; the role of "America's most wanted man", the guerrilla leader Osama bin Laden; the BCCI connection; and the CIA's cynical promotion of drug traffic in the Golden Crescent.

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Review:

'The devil of John Cooley's unsettling book is in the detail ... A persuasive argument against one-night stands in international alliances and makes clear that there will be an intolerable price to pay if Islam replaces communism as the next 'Satanic foe?'. Independent on Sunday 'Focuses on the numerous riots, uprisings, and terrorist acts in the Arabic-speaking parts of the Middle East over the last two decades. Cooley carries such ties even to the World Trade Center and Kenyan and Tanzanian embassy bombings. This provocative book certainly will provide insight into many events in the Middle East for the general reader.- Library Journal 'Read this book and you will see the clash between radical Islam and the West in a new light.' Charles William Maynes, former editor, Foreign Policy 'Cooley is to be commended for undertaking the ambitious task of tracing the repercussions of the Afghan war and for coming up with a great many details of value and interest.- New York Times Book Review 'The book is a wonderful and provocative read, and shall prove most helpful for those of us who seek clarity amidst the propagandistic obscurantism of official government policy.' Professor Hal Himmelstein Chair Department of Television and Radio, Brooklyn College 'Cooley has a done a service for the international working class movement in exposing the clandestine operations for the CIA.' News Line 'No Cooley book can be ignored by anyone interested in the politics of the Arab and Islamic world.' New Worker 'Cooley's important and timely book examines a strange love affair that went disastrously wrong, the alliance between America and some of the most conservative and fanatical followers of Islam.' Los Angeles Times Book Review 'Cooley's argument, amply documented, is that virtually everyone involved in the Afghan affair paid an extortionate price. ... His thesis has been vindicated by recent events.' London Review of Books 'John Cooley's remarkable book is the first systematic and detailed account of how the United States utilised the intelligence services of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to create, train, finance and arm an international network of Islamic militants to fight the Russians in Afghanistan.' Tariq Ali, New Left Review 'Indispensible reading for those interested in international politics and the future of our global society.' India Weekly 'This book provides the behind-the-scenes account of the extraordinary anti-communist alliance that the USA formed with militant Islamic forces in South Asia, and how the CIA planned and ran the 'holy war' in Afghanistan.' Oxfam Review of Journals "This is an important revised edition of a book that became required reading immediately it was first published..." The Morning Star 'The definitive account' The Guardian 'A first rate insight into the US relationship with militan Islam during and since the Cold War... Provides much ammunition for those holding to the line that in supporting the likes of Osama bin Laden during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, teh US was indeed sowing the seeds of a bitter harvest reaped on September 11th 2001.' World Socialism 'Provides a first rate insight into the US relationship with militant Islam during and since the Cold War and provides much ammunition for those holding to the line that, in supporting the likes of Osama bin Laden during the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, the US was indeed sowing the seeds of a bitter harvest reaped on 11 September 2001.' Socialist Standard

From the Back Cover:

'The devil of John Cooley's unsettling book is in the detail ... A persuasive argument against one-night stands in international alliances.' Independent on Sunday

'Cooley's argument, amply documented, is that virtually everyone involved in the Afghan affair paid an extortionate price ... His thesis has been vindicated by recent events.' Tariq Ali, London Review of Books

To oppose the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the United States formed an extraordinary anti-communist alliance with militant Islamic forces in South Asia. In this controversial and acclaimed book, John Cooley provides the first behind-the-scenes account of this alliance and of how the CIA planned and ran the 'holy war' in Afghanistan. This new edition brings the subject up to date with the US and Canada since December 1999. Cooley covers the important events that have taken place in Algeria; the impact of Pakistan's military coup of October 1999 on Indo-Pakistani relations; and the political destabilization of the Philippines through the Muslim separatist uprising which began in 1998, especially the orgy of kidnapping for profit by the former Afghan Abu Sayyaf group in 2000.

'Important and timely ... [It] examines a strange love affair that went disastrously wrong, the alliance of America and some of the most conservative and fanatical followers of Islam.' Los Angeles Times Book Review

'Read this book and you will see the clash between radical Islam and the West in a new light.' Charles William Maynes, former editor, Foreign Policy

John K. Cooley is a correspondent for ABC News and has written widely on the Middle East and North Africa. He is the author of five other books on the Middle East, including Payback: America's Long War in the Middle East (1991) and Libyan Sandstorm: Qaddafi's Revolution (1981).

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