Listen to the show

From Holy War to Holy Terror, 18 Years Inside Afghanistan
GUEST: Kathy Gannon, Associated Press reporter based in Afghanistan from 1986 to 2005, author of I is for Infidel: From Holy War to Holy Terror, 18 Years Inside Afghanistan

After the September 11th 2001 attacks the name of Osama bin Laden became synonymous with terrorism. Yet much of what led up to the attacks was not understood by the US public, the media, or the intelligence apparatus. In the months that followed, the US launched Operation Enduring Freedom, bombing Afghanistan where bin Laden was supposedly hiding. The US’s campaign led directly to the re-emergence of warlords. Associated Press reporter Kathy Gannon, who is the longest serving foreign reporter in Afghanistan, claims that it was US backed warlords who first invited Osama bin Laden into Afghanistan, not the Taliban. In her book, “I is for Infidel: From Holy War to Holy Terror, 18 Years Inside Afghanistan,” Kathy Gannon relates first hand accounts of what happened in Afghanistan since the late 80s, through the 90s when the world forgot about Afghanistan, and during the US bombing and its aftermath.