88 Days to Kandahar

When President George W. Bush approved the first American-Afghan war, Robert Grenier, the CIA station chief in Islamabad from 1999-2002, found himself directing it. Grenier launched the “southern campaign,” orchestrating the final defeat of the Taliban and Hamid Karzai’s rise to power in eighty-eight chaotic days.

Grenier’s new book, 88 Days to Kandahar, recounts the crucial players during this critical time: General Tommy Franks, who balked at CIA control of “his” war; General Jafar Amin, the Pakistani intelligence officer who saved Grenier from committing career suicide; and Pakistan’s brilliant ambassador to the US, Maleeha Lodhi; among others. What results is a post-9/11 race to unseat the Taliban and al-Qaida, forever changing the U.S.’s relationship to Afghanistan.