He was the CIA whiz kid in 'Charlie Wilson's War.' His new book offers advice for the US in Ukraine.
One of the architects of the covert U.S. strategy against the Soviets in Afghanistan has published a new memoir
WASHINGTON (AP) — After the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in 1989, defeated by an insurgency equipped and guided by the U.S., a two-word cable arrived at CIA headquarters: “WE WON.”
It was one of the last moments of the Cold War, credited with helping push the Soviet Union to collapse two years later. But the U.S. would leave behind a country that rapidly fell into civil war, eventually becoming al-Qaida's training grounds for the Sept. 11 attacks and the site of a two-decade war that ended in U.S. withdrawal and defeat.
Decades later, one of the architects of the covert strategy against the Soviets has published a memoir that calls on President Joe Biden's administration to do more to support Ukraine's resistance against Russia. In “By All Means Available,” Michael Vickers also reviews what the U.S. can learn from its past missteps and missed warnings in Afghanistan.
