Afghanistan, that the World Trade Center bombing was right out of CIA training manuals supplied to the Afghanis by the Pakistani ISI, and that many of the most brutal atrocities committed in Algeria were accomplished by Afghanis. Cooley also claims that BCCI (the Bank of Credit and Commerce International), a bank with a rather scandalous reputation, was very much involved in the Afghan war. The increase in the drug trade from Afghanistan he attributes to the CIA and other intelligence agencies and authorities turning a "blind-eye" to the problem of drug production in Afghanistan. He claims that the CIA actually supported the selling of drugs in order to finance the jihad. Cooley also claims that there was a policy in the U.S. government, among a small circle of people, to actively sell drugs to Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan in order to weaken their resolve. This was, he claims, an idea instigated by a French cold warrior, Count Alexander de Marenches. Cooley also claims that the DEA and the CIA seemed to be at odds on the program. Hardly a surprise there, but the story of William French Smith's visit to Afghanistan at the height of the war is a colorful one. Cooley's chapter on "Po! ppy Fields, Killing Fields, and Druglords" is chilling, although not very well documented. He also tries to draw the roadmap for the movement of weapons and personnel that "leaked" out of Afghanistan after the war. His stories about the attempts to buy back the U.S. stinger missiles is one that might keep some of the relevant parties up late at night. One of the nagging questions about the Afghan war has been why the Soviets ever got involved. Cooley's argument seems to be that they were trying to take advantage of the fall of Iran in February 1979. They were also wary of a possible U.S. attempt to move its influence in the region from Iran to another place close to them, such as Afghanistan. The fact that the Afghan leader at the time was educated in the U...
