And it is truly, as he writes, “a humbling case study in the limits of American power”. Pakistan was and remains a key actor, especially its ISI intelligence service, whose shadowy Directorate S of the title maintained links with the Taliban, but manipulated them as much as it did the CIA. Bush paid billions for the Afghan war but would not devote 10% of its cost to secure the peace. Footnotes reference hundreds of interviews with US, Afghan and Pakistani officials, as well as documents (some provided by WikiLeaks) and memoirs. • Directorate S by Steve Coll is published by Allen Lane (£25).

Source: The Guardian February 26, 2018 06:56 UTC