Charlie Wilson begins as a dilettante Texan playboy; a Democrat with an Anti-Russian grudge. Wilson holds a coveted seat on the Defense Appropriations Committee, and through what seems to sometimes be sheer force of personality, enjoys a particularly powerful position there. He goes into cahoots with a rogue CIA agent, the Greek immigrant's son Gust Avrakotos, in order to fund, arm and train the mujahideen, a vast alliance of otherwise warring tribal factions in Afghanistan, to overthrow the Soviet/Afghan government "oppressors."

The plan miraculously goes well, and perhaps precipitates the fall of the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain, ending the USSR's status as "superpower."

Unfortunately, because of a long history of tribal resentment and a tradition of revenge, the mujahideen alliance falters and begins to disintegrate, even before the USSR is completely out of the picture.

Because the CIA covertly funded the war the United States, despite its hefty (tide-turning) support, doesn't receive any credit for its massive funding, training and aid programs. Instead the fundamental Islamic movement sees its victory as "Allah's will" and the support as if it were supplied directly by Allah. So instead of making the United States a friend of the Islamic state, the United States begins to be viewed as another great world superpower which can be overcome.

This book provides a recent history of American relations with Islamic nations, and provides a context for the current wars in Afghanistan (directly) and Iraq (indirectly).

The bulk of this quite-bulky book focuses on the amazing, unlikely story of Charlie Wilson's fight to build and fund a massive program to help the seemingly romantic, heroic, anti-USSR mujahideen, who are grossly outmatched, and seem to be fighting a century or two earlier than their foes.

Only the epilogue provides specific relationship ties between the funding of the mujahideen and the current woes in Afghanistan.

Great book so far. It provides a rich history of the struggles in Afghanistan prior to 9/11. It provides great insight into the mindset of the CIA, an organization that was created after WWII to make sure another Pearl Harbour doesn't ever happen again. The CIA was created to be watchful, suspicious, and yes, hawkish - by that I mean a take-it-to-them-before-they-take-it-to-us mentality. It was full of hawks at the time, yet arguably was not hawkish enough, because 9/11 happened. I'm not a big fan of the hawks, but there is a place for them in an intelligence agency such as the CIA. To complete later...

A smart book that I'm none the smarter for having read...