''Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism'' is a book by John K. Cooley, a news correspondent. The book presents Cooley's account of

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

policies and alliances from 1979 to 1989 in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, the flaws and the lacunae inherent in US handling of the affairs, and their contribution into the emergence of a form of terrorism which continues to affect several regions of the World. Cooley has spent decades in the Middle East and the book is the result of his studies of the subject matter, and his interaction with a number of administrators, diplomats, politicians and the common people.

Chapters

''Unholy Wars'' is divided into eleven chapters noted below: #Carter and Brezhnev in the Valley of Decision #Anwar al-Sadat #Zia al-Haq #Deng Xiaoping #Recruiters, Trainers, Trainees and Assorted Spooks #Donors, Bankers and Profiteers #Poppy Fields, Killing Fields and Drug lords #Russia: Bitter Aftertaste and Reluctant Return #The Contagion Spreads: Egypt and the Maghreb #The Contagion Spreads: The Assault on America

Reception

According to Norwegian researcher Thomas Hegghammer, Unholy Wars did the most to propagate the view that the CIA trained the Afghan Arabs. Cooley described "the central role of the CIA’s Muslim mercenaries, including upwards of 2,000 Algerians, in the Afghanistan war," however journalist

Peter Bergen Peter Lampert Bergen (born December 12, 1962) is an American journalist, documentary producer, historian, and author, best known for his work on national security and counterterrorism. He has written or edited ten books—three of which were ...

writes that Cooley did not present any evidence for his claims. According to historian

Odd Arne Westad Odd Arne Westad FBA (born 5 January 1960) is a Norwegian historian specializing in the Cold War and contemporary East Asian history. He is the Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University, where he teaches in the Yale History ...

—based on information by Soviet defector

Vasili Mitrokhin Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin (; March 3, 1922 – January 23, 2004) was an archivist for the Soviet Union's foreign intelligence service, the First Chief Directorate of the KGB, who defected to the United Kingdom in 1992. Mitrokhin first offer ...

—the book "obviously originates in Soviet disinformation from the 1980s."

Notes

References

Books about terrorism Pluto Press books 1999 non-fiction books {{terrorism-book-stub

Chapters

Reception

See also

Notes

References