The news-breaking book that has sent shockwaves through the White House, Ghost Wars is the most accurate and revealing account yet of the CIAs secret involvement in al-Qaeadas evolution. Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll has spent years reporting from the Middle East, accessed previously classified government files and interviewed senior US officials and foreign spymasters. Here he gives the full inside story of the CIAs covert funding of an Islamic jihad against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, explores how this sowed the seeds of bin Ladens rise, traces how he built his global network and brings to life the dramatic battles within the US government over national security. Above all, he lays bare American intelligences continual failure to grasp the rising threat of terrrorism in the years leading to 9/11 - and its devastating consequences.