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First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan. By Gary C. Schroen. New York: Presidio Press, 2005. 379 pages. $25.95. Reviewed by Dr. Amer Latif, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Eurasian Affairs.
After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, there was serious concern within the policymaking community about how to decisively strike at the Taliban's key centers of gravity. Although the Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan, its lack of structure, elusive leadership, and an apparent lack of critical physical infrastructure made it difficult to pinpoint the best way to defeat such an amorphous organization. Enter a small team of CIA operatives led by Gary Schroen, conducting a CIA operation called "Jawbreaker." Schroen was a decorated veteran CIA operative in the Directorate of Operations with over 30 years of experience focusing on the Middle East and South Asia. At the time of 9/11, Schroen was in the midst of his retirement process when he was assigned to lead the Jawbreaker operation into northern Afghanistan to engage the Northern Alliance forces and set the stage for the defeat of the Taliban.
Picking up where Steve Coll's Ghost Wars left off on 10 September, the author gives an almost day-by-day account of his experiences beginning the day after 9/11. After a succinct history on the CIA's (and his own) involvement in Afghanistan, Schroen moves into his narrative. The chapters are short and the book moves briskly, as the author writes in clear, crisp, matter-of-fact sentences that require no embellishment.
Schroen...