First In -

I just finished reading a great book call First In - An Insiders Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan by Gary C. Schroen

Shortly after 9/11, President Bush ordered the CIA to send in a forward team of agents to help organize the Afghan resistance armies, the Northern Alliance, to attack and destroy the entrenched Taliban terrorists that controlled much of Afghanistan including Kabul.

One of the CIA's main objectives was to get the Northern Alliance and their assorted war lords that they controlled to operate and communicate as a unit and to coordinate air attacks on the Taliban when the time was right.

Maybe the main objective was to kill or capture as many of the leaders of the Taliban and Al- Qa'ida as possible, especially Osama bin Ladin, the terrorist directly responsible for the attack on the United States.

It reads like a novel but it is a factual account of a hand full of trained expert agents in everything from communication, weapons, combat tactics, diplomacy and languages with a heavy dose of experience of dealing with hostel third world countries. They proved to be up to the job.

I also read General Tommy Frank's book called The American Soldier which gave the over view of the war to reclaim Afghanistan. He told of the organizing of the Air Force and Special Forces units that were required to be deployed with the Northern Alliance units as they drove the terrorists out of kabul. This paved the way for Hamid Karzai to take the rains of an interim government and eventually win the presidency in free elections.

It's a must read to get the back ground of how we went on the offensive and attacked and killed some of those forces that attacked us. Unfortunately we didn't have the opportunity to kill bin ladin, but I believe we are getting closer every day.