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The Afghanistan File
The Afghanistan File, written by the former head of Saudi Arabian Intelligence, tells the story of his Department's involvement in Afghanistan from the time of the Soviet invasion in 1979 to 9/11/2001. It begins with the backing given by Saudi Arabia to the Mujahideen in their fight against the Soviet occupation, and moves on to the fruitless initiatives to broker peace among the Mujahideen factions after the Soviet withdrawal, the rise to power of the Taleban and the shelter the Taleban gave to Osama Bin Laden.
A theme that runs through the book is the extraordinary difficulties Saudi Arabia and its allies had in dealing with the Mujahideen. Prince Turki found them magnificently brave, but exasperating. On one occasion in trying to arrange peace among them, he got permission from the King to open the Kaaba in Mecca, and had the leaders go inside, where they were overcome with emotion and swore never to fight each other again. A few hours later on their way to Medina they almost came to blows on the bus.
Turki's account gives details of the Saudi attempts in the 1990s to bring its volunteers out of Afghanistan - with chequered success - and his negotiations with the Taleban for the surrender of Osama Bin Laden. The book includes a number of declassified Intelligence Department documents.
Prince Turki explains that the nihilistic, apparently pointless terrorism that has been seen in the Middle East in the last twenty years had its origins in Afghanistan with Osama's deluded belief that he had helped defeat the Russians. There is no evidence that he ever fought them at all. Soon after 9/11 Saudi Arabia discovered that it had a home grown terrorist problem involving some of the returnees from Afghanistan. Much of the huge change that has taken place in the Kingdom since has stemmed from the campaign to tackle this.
A theme that runs through the book is the extraordinary difficulties Saudi Arabia and its allies had in dealing with the Mujahideen. Prince Turki found them magnificently brave, but exasperating. On one occasion in trying to arrange peace among them, he got permission from the King to open the Kaaba in Mecca, and had the leaders go inside, where they were overcome with emotion and swore never to fight each other again. A few hours later on their way to Medina they almost came to blows on the bus.
Turki's account gives details of the Saudi attempts in the 1990s to bring its volunteers out of Afghanistan - with chequered success - and his negotiations with the Taleban for the surrender of Osama Bin Laden. The book includes a number of declassified Intelligence Department documents.
Prince Turki explains that the nihilistic, apparently pointless terrorism that has been seen in the Middle East in the last twenty years had its origins in Afghanistan with Osama's deluded belief that he had helped defeat the Russians. There is no evidence that he ever fought them at all. Soon after 9/11 Saudi Arabia discovered that it had a home grown terrorist problem involving some of the returnees from Afghanistan. Much of the huge change that has taken place in the Kingdom since has stemmed from the campaign to tackle this.
- GenresHistory
272 pages, Hardcover
First published August 31, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 31, 2023
A high-level overview of the Saudi position during the Afghan-Soviet War. Covers a very brief primer on Afghan history, the nature of the Afghan state, Soviet influence on the Communist party factions in Afghanistan (Parcham v. Khalq), the eventual CIA + Saudi + ISI financial/weapons pipelines, and key moments in the war from 1979 (invasion) to 1989 (retreat) to civil war (1992) to Taliban consolidation (1996 - 2003).
I found this a useful book in terms of how the Saudi intelligence cooperated with the Pakistani ISI and American CIA, as well as how they viewed the different mujahideen factions (note: charisma is important, not just in DnD), with many colourful anecdotes that made it an enjoyable read as well. Prince Turki's writing style is succinct (bordering on terse at times) and he managed to condense a good amount of information into a relatively small book. However, I'm taking this book with a grain of salt since it appears to whitewash the Saudis of any wrongdoing re: the rise of Al-Qaeda.
Pretty short book, can be finished in a day -- took me longer because I was interspersing it with others.
I found this a useful book in terms of how the Saudi intelligence cooperated with the Pakistani ISI and American CIA, as well as how they viewed the different mujahideen factions (note: charisma is important, not just in DnD), with many colourful anecdotes that made it an enjoyable read as well. Prince Turki's writing style is succinct (bordering on terse at times) and he managed to condense a good amount of information into a relatively small book. However, I'm taking this book with a grain of salt since it appears to whitewash the Saudis of any wrongdoing re: the rise of Al-Qaeda.
Pretty short book, can be finished in a day -- took me longer because I was interspersing it with others.
June 20, 2022
It is a normal practice that most people in important public positions, revolutionaries, celebrities write their autobiographies to tell their stories. This book by Prince Turki is story of him and KSA during his period as Director of GID and Afghan turmoil. Started with his personal story and how he achieved the coveted post of DGID, over throw of Sardar Dawood govt, Russian invasion, resistance by Mujahideen, their internal rivalry & ends with Palestinian issues. Prince has also shed light on various characters of Afghan resistance such as Hekmatyar, Masooud & others, OBL, Mulla Omar etc. He had disliking of Hekmatyar bcz of his arrogance. He has also written on reforms carried out by kingdom in society to contain extremism. American adventure in Iraq which resulted chaos. A good effort to tell Saudi side of story.
November 6, 2021
A fascinating exploration into a truly historical region and people. Coming from the perspective of this Saudi Arabian Prince the reader gets insights from personal, political, geographical and many other aspects of the conflict, attempts to build peace and impact on the communities.
It was quite challenging reading in places, names and details are sometimes overwhelming and difficult to grasp but stick with it, you are guaranteed to learn so much about something which may have felt removed from our day to day lives but actually should be something we understand and care about.
It was quite challenging reading in places, names and details are sometimes overwhelming and difficult to grasp but stick with it, you are guaranteed to learn so much about something which may have felt removed from our day to day lives but actually should be something we understand and care about.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews