Get Your Free Audiobook
-
Directorate S
- The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 28 hrs and 30 mins
Failed to add items
Add to cart failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
![Prime logo](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/Homestead/Prime_Logo_RGB.png)
2 credits with free trial
Buy Now for ₹1,633.00
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
People who bought this also bought...
-
Ghost Wars
- The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
- Written by: Steve Coll
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 26 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The explosive first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan. With the publication of Ghost Wars, Steve Coll became not only a Pulitzer Prize winner, but also the expert on the rise of the Taliban, the emergence of Bin Laden, and the secret efforts by CIA officers and their agents to capture or kill Bin Laden in Afghanistan after 1998.
-
-
Long, Repetitive, engaging in parts
- By Komal on 22-07-24
-
Six Days of War
- June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East
- Written by: Michael B. Oren
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Israel and the West, it is called the Six Day War. In the Arab world, it is known as the June War or, simply, as "the Setback". Never has a conflict so short, unforeseen, and largely unwanted by both sides so transformed the world. The Yom Kippur War, the war in Lebanon, the Camp David accords, the controversy over Jerusalem and Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the intifada, and the rise of Palestinian terror are all part of the outcome of those six days.
-
-
Detailed account of a historic event
- By Kindle Customer on 09-07-22
-
The First World War
- A Complete History
- Written by: Martin Gilbert
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 33 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was to be the war to end all wars, and it began at 11:15 on the morning of June 28, 1914, in an outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire called Sarajevo. It would officially end nearly five years later. Unofficially, however, it has never ended: Many of the horrors we live with today are rooted in the First World War. The Great War left millions of civilians and soldiers maimed or dead. It also saw the creation of new technologies of destruction: tanks, planes, and submarines; machine guns and field artillery; poison gas and chemical warfare.
-
The Spy Chronicles
- RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace
- Written by: Asad Durrani, Aditya Sinha, A. S. Dulat
- Narrated by: Zubin Balaporia, Uday Benegal, Prateek Pillai
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sometime in 2016, a series of dialogues took place which set out to find a meeting ground, even if only an illusion, between A.S. Dulat and Asad Durrani. One was a former chief of RAW, India's external intelligence agency, the other of ISI, its Pakistani counterpart. As they could not meet in their home countries, the conversations, guided by journalist Aditya Sinha, took place in cities like Istanbul, Bangkok and Kathmandu.
-
-
Good book ruined by the performance
- By Placeholder on 28-03-21
-
The Hunt for KSM
- Inside the Pursuit and Takedown of the Real 9-11 Mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
- Written by: Terry McDermott, Josh Meyer
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only minutes after United 175 plowed into the World Trade Center's South Tower, people in positions of power correctly suspected who was behind the assault: Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. But it would be 18 months after September 11 before investigators would capture the actual mastermind of the attacks, the man behind bin Laden himself: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
-
1962: The War That Wasn't
- The Definitive Account of the Clash Between India and China
- Written by: Shiv Kunal Verma
- Narrated by: Manish Dongardive
- Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On 20 October 1962, high in the Himalayas, on the banks of the fast-flowing Nam Ka Chu, over 400 Indian soldiers were massacred, and the valley was overrun by soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army. Over the course of the next month, nearly 4,000 soldiers were killed on both sides, and the Indian army experienced its worst defeat ever. The conflict (war was never formally declared) ended because China announced a unilateral ceasefire on 21 November and halted its hitherto unhindered advance across NEFA and Ladakh.
-
-
Eye opening account of the Sino Indian war
- By dipanjanb on 05-03-19
-
Ghost Wars
- The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
- Written by: Steve Coll
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 26 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The explosive first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan. With the publication of Ghost Wars, Steve Coll became not only a Pulitzer Prize winner, but also the expert on the rise of the Taliban, the emergence of Bin Laden, and the secret efforts by CIA officers and their agents to capture or kill Bin Laden in Afghanistan after 1998.
-
-
Long, Repetitive, engaging in parts
- By Komal on 22-07-24
-
Six Days of War
- June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East
- Written by: Michael B. Oren
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Israel and the West, it is called the Six Day War. In the Arab world, it is known as the June War or, simply, as "the Setback". Never has a conflict so short, unforeseen, and largely unwanted by both sides so transformed the world. The Yom Kippur War, the war in Lebanon, the Camp David accords, the controversy over Jerusalem and Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the intifada, and the rise of Palestinian terror are all part of the outcome of those six days.
-
-
Detailed account of a historic event
- By Kindle Customer on 09-07-22
-
The First World War
- A Complete History
- Written by: Martin Gilbert
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 33 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was to be the war to end all wars, and it began at 11:15 on the morning of June 28, 1914, in an outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire called Sarajevo. It would officially end nearly five years later. Unofficially, however, it has never ended: Many of the horrors we live with today are rooted in the First World War. The Great War left millions of civilians and soldiers maimed or dead. It also saw the creation of new technologies of destruction: tanks, planes, and submarines; machine guns and field artillery; poison gas and chemical warfare.
-
The Spy Chronicles
- RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace
- Written by: Asad Durrani, Aditya Sinha, A. S. Dulat
- Narrated by: Zubin Balaporia, Uday Benegal, Prateek Pillai
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sometime in 2016, a series of dialogues took place which set out to find a meeting ground, even if only an illusion, between A.S. Dulat and Asad Durrani. One was a former chief of RAW, India's external intelligence agency, the other of ISI, its Pakistani counterpart. As they could not meet in their home countries, the conversations, guided by journalist Aditya Sinha, took place in cities like Istanbul, Bangkok and Kathmandu.
-
-
Good book ruined by the performance
- By Placeholder on 28-03-21
-
The Hunt for KSM
- Inside the Pursuit and Takedown of the Real 9-11 Mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
- Written by: Terry McDermott, Josh Meyer
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only minutes after United 175 plowed into the World Trade Center's South Tower, people in positions of power correctly suspected who was behind the assault: Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. But it would be 18 months after September 11 before investigators would capture the actual mastermind of the attacks, the man behind bin Laden himself: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
-
1962: The War That Wasn't
- The Definitive Account of the Clash Between India and China
- Written by: Shiv Kunal Verma
- Narrated by: Manish Dongardive
- Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On 20 October 1962, high in the Himalayas, on the banks of the fast-flowing Nam Ka Chu, over 400 Indian soldiers were massacred, and the valley was overrun by soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army. Over the course of the next month, nearly 4,000 soldiers were killed on both sides, and the Indian army experienced its worst defeat ever. The conflict (war was never formally declared) ended because China announced a unilateral ceasefire on 21 November and halted its hitherto unhindered advance across NEFA and Ladakh.
-
-
Eye opening account of the Sino Indian war
- By dipanjanb on 05-03-19
Publisher's Summary
Winner of the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
Longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award for Nonfiction
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars, the epic and enthralling story of America's intelligence, military, and diplomatic efforts to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 9/11.
Prior to 9/11, the United States had been carrying out small-scale covert operations in Afghanistan, ostensibly in cooperation, although often in direct opposition, with I.S.I., the Pakistani intelligence agency. While the US was trying to quell extremists, a highly secretive and compartmentalized wing of I.S.I., known as "Directorate S", was covertly training, arming, and seeking to legitimize the Taliban, in order to enlarge Pakistan's sphere of influence. After 9/11, when 59 countries, led by the US, deployed troops or provided aid to Afghanistan in an effort to flush out the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the US was set on an invisible slow-motion collision course with Pakistan.
Today, we know that the war in Afghanistan would falter badly because of military hubris at the highest levels of the Pentagon, the drain on resources and provocation in the Muslim world caused by the US-led invasion of Iraq, and corruption. But, more than anything, as Coll makes painfully clear, the war in Afghanistan was doomed because of the failure of the United States to apprehend the motivations and intentions of I.S.I.'s "Directorate S". This was a swirling and shadowy struggle of historic proportions, which endured over a decade and across both the Bush and Obama administrations, involving multiple secret intelligence agencies, a litany of incongruous strategies and tactics, and dozens of players, including some of the most prominent military and political figures. A sprawling American tragedy, the war was an open clash of arms but also a covert melee of ideas, secrets, and subterranean violence.
Coll excavates this grand battle, which took place away from the gaze of the American public. With unsurpassed expertise, original research, and attention to detail, he brings to life a narrative at once vast and intricate, local and global, propulsive and painstaking. This is the definitive explanation of how America came to be so badly ensnared in an elaborate, factional, and seemingly interminable conflict in South Asia. Nothing less than a forensic examination of the personal and political forces that shape world history, Directorate S is a complete masterpiece of both investigative and narrative journalism.
Critic Reviews
"[A]journalistic masterpiece...Coll succeeds on all levels.... Coll is masterful at plumbing the depths of agencies and sects within both Afghanistan and Pakistan.... In this era of fake news, Coll remains above it all, this time delivering an impeccably researched history of diplomacy at the highest levels of government in Washington, Islamabad, and Kabul." (Kirkus Reviews, starred)
“With his evenhanded approach, gift for limning character, and dazzling reporting skills, he has created an essential work of contemporary history.” (Booklist, starred)
“The most comprehensive work to date on the US war in Afghanistan.... Coll’s vital work provides a factual and analytical foundation for all future work on the Afghan War and US policy in Central Asia.” (Publisher’s Weekly)
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about Directorate S
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 28-02-21
great insights on Afghanistan and working of US
Helps understand present Afghanistan. Stories of US officials and institutions may bore the general reader
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- shivesh s.
- 24-01-19
Insight of International Relations
A perfect book to know Pakistani fraud in the world. how has it played all the players in the game of dominating Afghanistan. which it is still continuing to do so. An apt book to understand the present dynamics.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rahul Thakur
- 23-07-20
Extremely detailed look into behind the scenes.
Was extremely detailed..! So detailed that I had relisten to parts to make sense. But very very informative
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Subramanyam K.V
- 26-12-22
wonderful book
this book takes over from Ghostwars and gives us a very good understanding of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2016
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!