Episode 3: The CIA, Afghanistan, and the Road to 9/11
How a covert action program facilitated the Taliban’s rise to power.
This is the story of how a CIA covert action program inadvertently created the conditions for the Taliban to seize control and provide safe haven for Osama bin Laden. Following a Cold War proxy battle between the Soviet Union and the United States, al Qaeda gained strength throughout the 1990s, leading to the deadliest attack on American soil on September 11, 2001.
In this episode of None Of The Above’s ‘90s Rewind miniseries, the Institute for Global Affairs’ Mark Hannah explores America’s misplaced trust in partnerships with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and the lack of coherent US policy toward the Taliban and al Qaeda during the 1990s. He is joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll. NPR’s Deborah Amos and retired ambassador Thomas Pickering return to provide insights and commentary
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Steve Coll is an editor at The Economist and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Ghost Wars. Previously, he served as a professor and dean in Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Between 1985 and 2005, he was a reporter, foreign correspondent, and senior editor at the Washington Post. There he served as the South Asia correspondent in New Delhi and was the paper’s first international investigative correspondent, based in London.
Deborah Amos is a Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence at Princeton University. Over the course of her award-winning career, she served as an international correspondent for NPR, ABC, and PBS. Her reporting has largely focused on the Middle East and refugees. She was awarded the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.
Thomas Pickering is a retired diplomat who served as US ambassador to the United Nations, India, and Russia throughout the 1990s. He also served as Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs under President Clinton from 1997 to 2000. He achieved the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in American diplomacy.
