# Covert operations, coups, and blowback The documented covert history that shaped the modern world: the Cold War coups, the paramilitary training and arming of proxies, Iran-Contra, Operation Condor, and the arming of the Afghan mujahideen whose blowback fed modern jihadism. Documented operations stated as fact; the strongest 'CIA created every terror group' claims flagged as contested. *This story part of: Military and security* *The pillars of modern power part of this story* *Free speech and how it is subverted parallel this story* *The military-industrial complex and Pax Americana parallel this story* *JFK: the presidency and the assassination parallel this story* *The Cold War parallel this story* *The Nazi bargains: Paperclip and the recruitment of the enemy parallel this story* *The space race: rivalry, rendezvous, and spying parallel this story* *The Russian oligarchs and the rise of Putin parallel this story* *Agent provocateurs and false flags parallel this story* *The Congo: from Leopold to the resource wars parallel this story* *The resource curse: how the South fed the North parallel this story* *Client dictators: the strongmen the powers kept part of this story* *Banana republics: corporations and the coup parallel this story* *The United Nations: peace, power, and its failures parallel this story* *The Free World's clients: the West's unfree allies parallel this story* *NGOs, foundations, and soft power parallel this story* *Oil: the industry that fueled the modern world parallel this story* *The global drug trade and how it ties to everything parallel this story* *Co-opt the moderate, bury the militant: the pattern of managed decolonization part of this story* *The cultural Cold War: the CIA and the Congress for Cultural Freedom part of this story* *Democracy promotion: the soft-power apparatus parallel this story* *The Project for a New American Century parallel this story* *The murdered liberators: Africa's reformers removed parallel this story* *Military and security parallel this story* ## c. 1 January 1946 — School of the Americas is founded The US Army opened the School of the Americas to train Latin American soldiers, later moving it to Fort Benning, Georgia. Thousands of graduates went on to serve in militaries that carried out coups and human rights abuses. > "The subjects in Sister Josephina's study were 900 students in grades five through eight drawn from nine parochial schools." > — Life in Classrooms ## c. 1 January 1952 — Operation Gladio and NATO's stay-behind networks NATO and Western intelligence set up secret armed networks across Europe to resist a feared Soviet invasion. In Italy the network was code-named Gladio, and parts of it were later linked to political violence. ## 1953 — Operation Ajax overthrows Mossadegh The United States Central Intelligence Agency orchestrated Operation Ajax, overthrowing Iran's democratic government and installing a long dictatorship. > "Operation Ajax, as the CIA coup against Mossadegh was code-named, was a great trauma for Iran, the Middle East, and the colonial world." > — All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror ## c. 1 August 1953 — Kermit Roosevelt runs the Tehran coup on the ground CIA officer Kermit Roosevelt Jr. directed the Ajax operation inside Iran, funding street protests and paying agents to turn opinion against Mossadegh. The tactics became a template for later covert regime-change efforts. ## 19 August 1953 — Operation Ajax overthrows Mossadegh The CIA and Britain's MI6 organized a coup that removed Iran's elected prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh after he nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The operation restored the Shah's power and the CIA later acknowledged its role. ## 27 June 1954 — Operation PBSuccess overthrows Arbenz in Guatemala A CIA-backed force and a propaganda campaign forced elected president Jacobo Arbenz to resign after his land reforms threatened the United Fruit Company. The coup installed a military government and opened decades of instability. ## c. 1 January 1959 to c. 1976 — Air America flies the CIA's secret wars The CIA ran Air America, an airline that moved arms, supplies, and personnel for covert operations in Laos and beyond. It became a symbol of the agency's hidden role in Southeast Asia. ## 13 November 1960 to 1996 — Guatemalan civil war begins after the coup The 1954 coup helped trigger a civil war in which US-backed security forces killed an estimated 200,000 people, most of them Maya civilians. A UN truth commission later found acts of genocide by the state. ## 17 January 1961 — Congo crisis and the killing of Lumumba Patrice Lumumba, Congo's first elected prime minister, was captured and killed by Katangan and Belgian forces. The CIA had plotted his assassination and a US-backed rival, Mobutu, took power. ## 17 April 1961 — Bay of Pigs invasion fails in Cuba The CIA landed a force of Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro, but the invasion collapsed within days. The defeat humiliated the Kennedy administration and pushed Cuba closer to the Soviet Union. > "Before dawn on April 17, the exile force, about fourteen hundred strong, waded ashore at the Bay of Pigs." > — The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War, p. 323-327 ## 31 March 1964 — US backs the Brazilian coup against Goulart The military overthrew elected president Joao Goulart with US encouragement, and Washington readied Operation Brother Sam to support the coup. A military dictatorship then ruled Brazil for 21 years. ## 28 April 1965 — US intervenes in the Dominican Republic President Johnson sent thousands of troops to the Dominican Republic to block a return to power by the elected leftist Juan Bosch. The intervention ended a popular uprising and installed a friendly government. ## 1 October 1965 to 1966 — Indonesian mass killings of 1965 and 1966 The Indonesian army and allied militias killed an estimated 500,000 to more than a million suspected communists after a failed coup. Declassified cables show US officials supplied lists of names and backed the purge. ## 12 March 1967 — Suharto takes power in Indonesia General Suharto sidelined President Sukarno and took control after the 1965 killings, backed by Western governments. His New Order regime ruled for over three decades. ## 21 April 1967 — The Greek colonels seize power A group of army colonels overthrew Greece's government and ruled as a junta for seven years. Several leaders had close ties to US intelligence, and Washington kept working with the regime. ## c. 1 July 1967 to c. 1972 — The Phoenix Program targets Vietnamese networks The CIA-led Phoenix Program aimed to identify and dismantle the Viet Cong's civilian support, and it led to thousands of detentions and killings. It became a model, and a warning, for later counterinsurgency. ## 25 October 1970 — Rene Schneider assassinated in Chile Chilean army chief Rene Schneider, who opposed a coup, was killed in a botched kidnapping by plotters the CIA had encouraged and armed. His death was part of US efforts to stop Salvador Allende from taking office. ## 27 June 1973 — Uruguay's military dissolves parliament Backed by security forces trained in US counterinsurgency, Uruguay's president dissolved parliament and opened a 12-year dictatorship. The country jailed and tortured political prisoners at one of the highest per-capita rates in the world. ## 11 September 1973 — The Chilean coup overthrows Allende The military under Augusto Pinochet bombed the presidential palace and seized power, and Salvador Allende died that day. The US had worked for years to undermine Allende's government and welcomed his fall. ## 12 September 1973 to 1990 — Pinochet's junta begins mass repression Pinochet's dictatorship killed or disappeared more than 3,000 people and tortured tens of thousands. It became a hub of the cross-border Condor network. ## 30 September 1974 — Carlos Prats assassinated in Buenos Aires Former Chilean army chief Carlos Prats and his wife were killed by a car bomb planted by Pinochet's secret police. The killing foreshadowed the cross-border violence Condor would formalize. ## 23 July 1975 — Operation Colombo covers up Chilean deaths Chile's secret police staged a disinformation campaign, planting foreign news stories that blamed 119 disappeared leftists' deaths on infighting abroad. It was an early example of Condor-style deception. ## 25 November 1975 — Operation Condor formally established Intelligence chiefs from Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil met in Santiago to coordinate against exiled opponents. The pact became Operation Condor, a network for cross-border surveillance and assassination. ## c. 1 January 1976 to c. 1983 — The disappeared of the Southern Cone Under Condor, tens of thousands of dissidents across South America were seized, tortured, and killed, their bodies often never found. Families of los desaparecidos spent decades demanding answers. ## 24 March 1976 — Argentina's coup launches the Dirty War A military junta seized power and began the Dirty War, killing and disappearing an estimated 30,000 people. US officials gave the generals a green light early in the campaign. ## c. 1 August 1976 — US intelligence tracked Condor as it killed Declassified cables show US officials knew of Condor's assassination plans, including a warning that came before the Letelier killing. Washington raised concerns but did not stop the network. ## 21 September 1976 — Letelier assassinated by car bomb in Washington Former Chilean minister Orlando Letelier and his aide Ronni Moffitt were killed by a car bomb on Embassy Row, ordered by Pinochet's secret police. It was one of the boldest acts of foreign state terror on US soil at the time. ## 1978 — Communist coup overthrows and kills Afghan President Daoud In April 1978 Mohammed Daoud arrested communist leaders in Kabul after they staged a protest. Soviet-backed officers planted inside the Afghan army shot him dead days later, launching the Marxist revolution that provoked the anticommunist revolt. > "In April 1978, Daoud fell off his beam. He arrested communist leaders in Kabul after they staged a noisy protest. Soviet-backed conspirators seeded within the Afghan army shot him dead days later in a reception room of his tattered palace." > — Ghost Wars ## 1979 — Armed zealots seize Mecca's Grand Mosque In November 1979 followers of Juhayman al-Utaybi smuggled weapons into Mecca's Grand Mosque and proclaimed a Mahdi, seizing Islam's holiest site. Saudi troops and French commandos retook it after weeks of fighting, hardening the Saudi royal family's embrace of Wahhabi religious rule. > "Saudi Arabian soldiers and French commandos routed the armed attackers at the Grand Mosque on Saturday in a bloody gun battle." > — Ghost Wars ## 1979 — Carter signs the first covert-action finding to aid Afghan rebels On July 3, 1979, months before the Soviet invasion, President Carter signed a presidential finding authorizing the CIA to spend just over $500,000 on propaganda, radios, medical supplies, and cash for the anticommunist Afghan rebels, funneled through Pakistan. > "On July 3, 1979, Carter scrawled his name on a presidential “finding” required under a recent law intended to ensure White House control over CIA operations." > — Ghost Wars ## 1979 — Herat revolt crushed with mass killing by the Afghan communist government The first major anticommunist mutiny erupted in Herat in March 1979 after Kabul's Marxists ordered girls taught to read. Soviet-trained pilots bombed the town in reprisal; by the regime's first anniversary the government had killed as many as twenty thousand people in Herat. > "By the time the raids were finished, on the eve of its first anniversary in power, the Afghan communist government had killed as many as twenty thousand of its own citizenry in Herat alone." > — Ghost Wars ## 1979 — Mob sacks and burns the U.S. embassy in Islamabad On November 21, 1979, a mob of Pakistani students, inflamed by a false rumor that America had seized Mecca's Grand Mosque, overran the U.S. embassy in Islamabad. CIA officers and Marines sheltered in a vault as the compound burned; Marine Corporal Stephen Crowley and others died, and General Zia's forces took hours to respond. > "All of the embassy compound’s six buildings, constructed at a cost of $20 million, had been torched beyond repair." > — Ghost Wars ## 1979 — Soviet invasion of Afghanistan KGB paramilitaries chased Hafizullah Amin through his Kabul palace as Soviet tanks reached their staging areas during the December 1979 invasion. > "Disguised KGB paramilitaries were still chasing Hafizullah Amin through the hallways of his Kabul palace, Soviet tanks had barely reached their first staging areas" > — Ghost Wars > "On November 26, the Politburo secretly decided to send troops to Kabul, kill Amin, and impose a friendlier regime." > — Overthrow - Americas century of regime change from Hawaii > "On Christmas Eve, thousands of Soviet troops marched over pontoon bridges across the Amu Darya river into Afghanistan, and others landed at the airport in Kabul." > — Overthrow - Americas century of regime change from Hawaii > "When Russian troops invaded Afghanistan at the end of 1979" > — The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers > "the debilitating war in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989;" > — The Grand Chessboard - American Primacy And Its Geostrategic > "According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979" > — Esoteric Hollywood II: More Sex, Cults and Symbols in Film > "The Soviet Union condemned the American invasion, comparing it to “a daring cavalry attack of armed-to-the-teeth white 29 Grenada 1979-1984 settlers on a village of Redskins”." > — Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, p. 275-277 > "Antonov transport planes loaded with Soviet airborne troops landed at Kabul’s international airport as darkness fell on Christmas Eve." > — Ghost Wars ## 3 July 1979 to 1989 — Operation Cyclone arms the Afghan mujahideen The CIA ran Operation Cyclone, one of its longest and most expensive covert programs, to fund and arm Afghan fighters against Soviet forces. Aid flowed through Pakistan's ISI to a range of Islamist factions. ## 1980 — Saudi intelligence agrees to match CIA funding for the Afghan jihad In July 1980 Prince Turki al-Faisal's General Intelligence Department reached a formal deal with the CIA to match, dollar for dollar, U.S. congressional funding for the mujahedin. Saudi money flowed through its Washington embassy into a CIA-controlled Swiss account used to buy weapons. > "Turki reached a formal agreement with the CIA in July 1980 to match U.S. congressional funding for the Afghan rebels." > — Ghost Wars ## c. 1 January 1980 to c. 1989 — Pakistan's ISI controls the weapons pipeline US and Saudi money for the mujahideen passed through Pakistan's intelligence service, which decided which factions got arms. The ISI favored hardline Islamist commanders, shaping who gained power later. ## c. 1 January 1980 — School of the Americas graduates tied to atrocities Graduates of the School of the Americas were linked to death squads, coups, and killings across Latin America, including the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the El Mozote massacre. The record made the school a lasting symbol of US backing for repression. ## 17 July 1980 — Bolivia's Cocaine Coup brings a narco-junta General Luis Garcia Meza seized power with help from fugitive Nazi Klaus Barbie and drug traffickers, in what became known as the Cocaine Coup. The regime funded itself through the cocaine trade. ## 1981 — Howard Hart takes over the CIA's Afghan arms program in Islamabad Howard Hart arrived in May 1981 as CIA station chief in Islamabad to run the clandestine program arming anti-Soviet guerrillas. His orders were essentially to hand over bags of money and weapons to Pakistan's ISI and let the mujahedin kill Soviets, ceding control of distribution to Pakistan. > "Hart had arrived in Pakistan in May 1981 as the CIA’s chief of station. He ran the agency’s clandestine program to arm anti-Soviet guerrillas in Afghanistan." > — Ghost Wars ## 1981 — Pakistan rejects Carter's aid, wins a $3.2 billion package from Reagan General Zia dismissed Carter's offer of $400 million as "peanuts" and secured a $3.2 billion aid deal from the Reagan administration, including permission to buy F-16 fighters previously reserved for NATO allies. In return the U.S. muted its objections to Pakistan's secret nuclear program. > "He turned down Carter’s initial offer of $400 million in aid, dismissing it as “peanuts,” and was rewarded with a $3.2 billion proposal from the Reagan administration plus permission to buy F-16 fighter jets, previously available only to NATO allies and Japan." > — Ghost Wars ## 17 November 1981 — The CIA arms and trains the Contras President Reagan authorized covert support for the Contra rebels fighting Nicaragua's Sandinista government. The CIA armed, trained, and directed the force from bases in Honduras. ## 11 December 1981 — El Mozote massacre by a trained battalion A US-trained Salvadoran army unit killed around a thousand villagers at El Mozote, most of them women and children. US officials publicly downplayed the massacre for years. ## c. 1 January 1982 to c. 1988 — US arms Saddam Hussein against Iran During the Iran-Iraq war the US tilted toward Iraq, sharing intelligence and enabling support even as Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons. Washington later went to war twice against the same regime. ## 21 December 1982 — The Boland Amendment bars Contra funding Congress passed the Boland Amendment to limit and then cut off US funding for the Contras. Officials skirted the ban by raising money through secret channels, which set up the Iran-Contra scheme. ## 1984 — Casey tells Reagan the covert Afghan war is cost effective In January 1984 CIA director William Casey briefed Reagan that the mujahedin had killed or wounded about seventeen thousand Soviet soldiers and controlled 62 percent of the countryside. The war had cost Moscow roughly $12 billion, paid for with $200 million in U.S. money plus a matching $200 million from Saudi intelligence. > "Mujahedin warriors had killed or wounded about seventeen thousand Soviet soldiers to date, by the CIA’s classified estimate. They controlled 62 percent of the countryside and had become so effective that the Soviets would have to triple or quadruple their deployments in Afghanistan to put the rebellion down." > — Ghost Wars ## c. 1 January 1984 — CIA mines Nicaraguan harbors The CIA secretly mined Nicaragua's harbors to pressure the Sandinista government, damaging foreign ships. The World Court later ruled the action unlawful. ## c. 1 January 1984 to c. 1989 — Foreign fighters flock to the Afghan jihad Thousands of Arab volunteers joined the war against the Soviets, drawn by recruitment networks like Abdullah Azzam's services bureau. These networks later seeded transnational jihadist movements. ## c. 1 January 1984 — The Enterprise runs the off-the-books network Retired officers Richard Secord and Albert Hakim ran a private operation, nicknamed the Enterprise, that handled arms sales and Contra supply outside government oversight. It let officials fund the Contras while denying US involvement. ## 1985 — Congress triples the CIA's Afghan budget to $250 million Spurred by Representative Charlie Wilson, Congress in late 1984 shoveled leftover Pentagon money into the Afghan program, raising its 1985 budget to $250 million, as much as all prior years combined. With the Saudi match, the CIA could spend roughly $500 million arming the mujahedin. > "Congress that month shoveled another enormous injection of leftover Pentagon money to the CIA for use in support of the mujahedin, bringing the total Afghan program budget for 1985 up to $250 million, about as much as all the previous years combined." > — Ghost Wars ## 1985 — Reagan signs NSDD-166 to escalate the Afghan covert war In March 1985 President Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive 166, shifting U.S. policy from merely harassing Soviet forces to driving them out. It authorized satellite intelligence, secure communications, advanced weapons, and CIA unilateral agents for the mujahedin. > "President Reagan signed the classified NSDD-166, titled “Expanded U.S. Aid to Afghan Guerrillas,” in March 1985, formally anointing its confrontational language as covert U.S. policy in Afghanistan." > — Ghost Wars ## 20 August 1985 — The Iran-Contra affair begins US officials secretly sold weapons to Iran, then under an arms embargo, and diverted the proceeds to fund the Contras. The scheme broke US law and became the biggest scandal of the Reagan years. ## 30 August 1985 — Arms sales to Iran run through Israel The first US-approved missile shipments to Iran were routed through Israel, in part to seek the release of American hostages in Lebanon. The deals violated the stated US policy of not trading arms for hostages. ## 1986 — CIA establishes its Counterterrorist Center On February 1, 1986, the CIA created its Counterterrorist Center at Langley, with Duane Clarridge as first director. It grew from Casey's push for an aggressive response to the Middle East hostage crises but soon shifted toward analysis after the Iran-Contra scandal. > "The CIA’s Counterterrorist Center was born on February 1, 1986. Clarridge was named its first director." > — Ghost Wars ## 1986 — Gorbachev calls Afghanistan a 'bleeding wound' Early in 1986 Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev publicly called the Afghan war a bleeding wound, and by that November he had privately set a goal of withdrawing Soviet troops within one or two years while leaving a friendly, neutral Afghanistan behind. > "He publicly referred to the war as a “bleeding wound” early in 1986." > — Ghost Wars ## 1986 — Mujahedin fire the first Stinger missiles, downing Soviet helicopters On September 26, 1986, near Jalalabad, a rebel team led by Engineer Ghaffar fired the CIA's newly supplied Stinger missiles and destroyed three Soviet helicopter gunships. The shoulder-fired heat-seeking weapon soon became the war's most significant battlefield development, forcing Soviet aircraft to fly higher. > "another flashed across the plain and smashed into a helicopter, destroying it in a fireball. More missiles flew in rapid succession, and two other helicopters fell, killing their Russian crews." > — Ghost Wars ## c. 1 January 1986 — Oliver North diverts funds to the Contras National Security Council aide Oliver North helped run the arms sales and steered the profits to the Contras. The diversion tied the two secret operations into a single scandal. ## 25 September 1986 — Stinger missiles delivered to the mujahideen The US began supplying shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Afghan fighters, blunting Soviet air power. Some missiles later went missing and worried Western agencies for years. ## 3 November 1986 — A Lebanese magazine exposes the arms deals The magazine Ash-Shiraa reported that the US had secretly sold arms to Iran, breaking the story open. Within weeks the diversion to the Contras came to light. ## 1987 — Battle of Jaji makes bin Laden's name among Arab jihadists On April 17, 1987, Soviet forces attacked Osama bin Laden's fortified compound at Jaji near the Pakistani border. Bin Laden and about fifty Arab volunteers held out for days, and the fight, chronicled by Arab journalists, launched his public reputation as a warrior and his global media campaign. > "On April 17, 1987, Soviet helicopters and bomber jets hit Osama bin Laden’s new fortified compound at Jaji, an assemblage of small crevices and caves dug into rocky hills above the border village." > — Ghost Wars ## 26 February 1987 — The Tower Commission reports on Iran-Contra A review board led by Senator John Tower found a chaotic, secretive process and faulted President Reagan's hands-off management. It stopped short of proving he knew of the diversion. ## 7 July 1987 — Oliver North testifies before Congress Oliver North testified in nationally televised hearings, defending the operations and admitting he had shredded documents. His testimony made him a household name and a divisive figure. ## 1988 — Geneva Accords set the terms of the Soviet withdrawal On April 14, 1988, Afghanistan's communist government, Pakistan, the U.S., and the Soviet Union signed the Geneva Accords formalizing the Soviet pullout. The mujahedin were excluded, and under a formula called "positive symmetry" the CIA kept arming them as long as Moscow supplied Kabul. > "SIGNED BY RANKING DIPLOMATS on April 14, 1988, the Geneva Accords ratified by treaty the formal terms of the Soviet withdrawal." > — Ghost Wars ## 1988 — President Zia and the U.S. ambassador die in a plane crash On August 17, 1988, Pakistani dictator Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq died when his C-130 crashed after a tank demonstration near Bhawalpur. Also killed were ISI chief General Akhtar, U.S. ambassador Arnold Raphel, and much of Pakistan's senior military brass; the cause was never established. > "It was August 17, 1988. The embassy officer said they had a very garbled report that President Zia’s plane had gone down near Bhawalpur where Zia, General Akhtar, Arnold Raphel (the American ambassador to Pakistan), and other Pakistani and American military officers had been watching the demonstration of a new tank that the Americans wanted to sell." > — Ghost Wars ## 11 August 1988 — Al-Qaeda founded in the Afghan war's aftermath Osama bin Laden and associates founded al-Qaeda from networks built during the anti-Soviet war. The group grew out of the war's aftermath, though the claim that the CIA created or directly funded bin Laden is contested and not supported by the documented record. ## 1989 — Soviet Troops Withdraw from Afghanistan The last Soviet military units withdrew from Afghanistan on February 15, 1989, crossing back into Soviet territory after nearly a decade of occupation. > "On February 15,1989, the last Red Army units crossed the Amu Darya back into Soviet territory." > — Overthrow - Americas century of regime change from Hawaii > "On February 15, the day appointed by the Geneva Accords for the departure of the last Soviet troops, Gromov staged a ceremony for the international media on the Termez Bridge, still standing despite the multiple attempts by ISI to persuade Afghan commanders to knock it down." > — Ghost Wars ## 13 April 1989 — The Kerry Committee links Contras to drugs A Senate subcommittee led by John Kerry reported that Contra networks and their supporters were involved in drug trafficking, and that US agencies looked the other way. The findings drew limited attention at the time. ## 20 December 1989 — Manuel Noriega turns from asset to target Panama's Manuel Noriega had long worked with US intelligence before the US invaded to capture him on drug charges. His arc is a textbook case of a covert asset becoming a liability. ## c. 1 January 1990 — Afghan weapons and fighters spread abroad Arms and battle-hardened veterans from the Afghan war moved into conflicts in Kashmir, Algeria, Bosnia, and beyond. The dispersal is a central example of blowback from a covert program. ## 20 July 1990 — Iran-Contra convictions are overturned Oliver North and John Poindexter were convicted, but appeals courts threw out the verdicts because their testimony had been given under immunity. Few key figures faced lasting punishment. ## 24 October 1990 — Andreotti reveals Gladio to the Italian parliament Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti confirmed the existence of Gladio, exposing the decades-long secret network. The revelation set off investigations across several European countries. ## 1991 — U.S. and Soviet Union agree to end arms supplies to Afghanistan On September 13, 1991, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Boris Pankin pledged a mutual cutoff of all arms to Najibullah and the Afghan rebels, effective January 1, 1992. The superpower agreement ended official support for both sides in the Afghan war. > "On September 13, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Boris Pankin pledged a mutual cutoff of arms to Najibullah and the Afghan rebels as of January 1, 1992." > — Ghost Wars > "On September 13, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Boris Pankin pledged a mutual cutoff of arms to Najibullah and the Afghan rebels as of January 1, 1992." > — Ghost Wars ## 1992 — Najibullah falls and Massoud takes Kabul as civil war begins In April 1992 the communist government of Najibullah collapsed. Ahmed Shah Massoud outmaneuvered his rival Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and entered Kabul, but the victory dissolved into a devastating civil war among the mujahedin factions that would wreck the capital. > "Massoud entered Kabul triumphantly from the north on a tank strewn with flowers. That night hundreds of his mujahedin fired their assault rifles into the air in celebration, their tracer bullets lighting the sky like electric rain." > — Ghost Wars ## 22 December 1992 — Condor's Archives of Terror discovered A researcher found tons of police files in Paraguay documenting Condor's detentions, torture, and killings. The Archives of Terror became key evidence in later trials. ## 24 December 1992 — President Bush pardons Iran-Contra figures President George H. W. Bush pardoned former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others tied to Iran-Contra. The pardons ended the prosecutions before a trial could examine Bush's own role. ## 1993 — Mir Amal Kasi shoots CIA employees outside Langley On January 25, 1993, Pakistani Mir Amal Kasi opened fire on CIA employees waiting at the entrance to the agency's Langley headquarters, killing two and wounding three, then fled to Pakistan. The CIA devoted much of its remaining Afghan network to hunting him. > "these were dedicated to tracking down Mir Amal Kasi, a young and angry Pakistani who on January 25, 1993, had opened fire on CIA employees arriving at the agency’s Langley headquarters. Kasi had killed two and wounded three, and then fled to Pakistan." > — Ghost Wars ## 1993 — Ramzi Yousef bombs the World Trade Center On February 26, 1993, Ramzi Yousef, trained in Afghan jihadist camps, detonated a truck bomb beneath the World Trade Center, killing six and injuring about a thousand. His network of "ad hoc" mobile jihadists marked, to CIA analysts, a new kind of stateless terrorism. > "On February 26, 1993, just a month after Kasi’s highly publicized attack at the CIA, Yousef led his confederates in a two-vehicle convoy from Brooklyn to the B-2 level of an underground garage at the World Trade Center." > — Ghost Wars ## 26 February 1993 — 1993 World Trade Center bombing Islamist militants detonated a truck bomb in the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center, killing 6 people and injuring more than a thousand. It was an early sign of the threat that culminated in 2001. ## 1994 — Taliban emerge in Kandahar under Mullah Omar The Taliban first surfaced as a small vigilante militia near Kandahar in the spring and summer of 1994, funded by about $250,000 from local businessmen and led by the one-eyed cleric Mullah Mohammed Omar. They promised to disarm the predatory warlords who had made the roads lawless. > "They first surfaced as a small militia force operating near Kandahar city during the spring and summer of 1994, carrying out vigilante attacks against minor warlords, backed by a security fund of about $250,000 raised by local small businessmen." > — Ghost Wars ## 1994 — Taliban seize the city of Kandahar In November 1994, aided by a captured ISI weapons dump at Spin Boldak, the Taliban took the entire city of Kandahar in about a day. Mullah Omar occupied the governor's headquarters and the movement soon controlled the airport, tanks, and MiG fighters. > "Suddenly, in just twenty-four hours, the Taliban moved into central Kandahar and captured the entire city." > — Ghost Wars ## 1 September 1994 — The Taliban rise from the war's wreckage The Taliban emerged from religious schools and former mujahideen amid the chaos that followed the Soviet withdrawal and the collapse of Afghan factions. They seized most of the country and later sheltered al-Qaeda. ## 1995 — Riyadh bombing by bin Laden-inspired Afghan veterans In November 1995 a bombing in Riyadh, carried out by Afghan-war veterans inspired by bin Laden, caught Saudi intelligence by surprise. Prince Turki's service had been focused almost entirely on Iranian and Shiite threats, leaving the Sunni jihadist danger underestimated. > "the Riyadh bombing in November by bin Laden–inspired Afghan veterans came “out of nowhere.”" > — Ghost Wars ## 1995 — Taliban capture Herat and turn toward Kabul When Herat fell to the Taliban in September 1995, the movement controlled all of southern Afghanistan. Backed by Pakistani intelligence, weapons, and volunteers from border madrassas, Mullah Omar's militia then announced its intention to march on Kabul. > "When Herat fell to the Taliban in September, the die was cast. Omar and his Durrani militia now controlled all of southern Afghanistan." > — Ghost Wars ## 1996 — Bin Laden issues his declaration of war on America In August 1996, from Afghanistan, bin Laden publicly issued his "Declaration of Jihad on the Americans Occupying the Country of the Two Sacred Places," targeting the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia and calling on followers to attack Americans and Israelis. > "In August he issued an open call for war titled “The Declaration of Jihad on the Americans Occupying the Country of the Two Sacred Places,” meaning Saudi Arabia, where more than five thousand U.S. soldiers and airmen were based." > — Ghost Wars ## 1996 — Bin Laden returns to Afghanistan In May 1996, expelled from Sudan and stripped of Saudi citizenship, Osama bin Laden flew into Jalalabad on his own jet with scores of Arab radicals. Afghanistan's collapsed state gave him a sanctuary from which to organize violence against the United States. > "FOUR MONTHS EARLIER, in May 1996, Osama bin Laden, the seventeenth son of a Saudi Arabian billionaire, had flown into Afghanistan on his own Ariana Afghan Airlines jet." > — Ghost Wars ## 1996 — Taliban Captures Kabul and Takes Control of Afghanistan Taliban forces entered Kabul on September 27, 1996, establishing control over Afghanistan with support from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Osama bin Laden. > "On September 27, 1996, propelled by four powerful friends—Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the United States, and bin Laden—Taliban forces rolled triumphantly into Kabul." > — Overthrow - Americas century of regime change from Hawaii > "By nightfall the Taliban had conquered Kabul. A militia whose one-eyed emir believed that he had been selected by God to prepare pious Muslims for glory in the afterlife now controlled most of Afghanistan’s territory, most of its key cities, and its seat of government." > — Ghost Wars ## 18 August 1996 — Gary Webb's Dark Alliance series is published Journalist Gary Webb reported that Contra-linked traffickers helped fuel the crack cocaine trade in US cities. Major papers attacked the series, and its strongest sweeping claims were disputed, though it forced official inquiries. ## 20 September 1996 — Pentagon torture manuals from the school revealed The Pentagon confirmed that training manuals used at the School of the Americas had advised on coercion, extortion, and torture. The disclosure fueled calls to close the school. ## 1998 — Al Qaeda Bombs U.S. Embassies in East Africa On August 7, 1998, Al Qaeda operatives under Osama bin Laden's direction bombed the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing over 200 people. > "On August 7, 1998, terror squads acting at his direction blew up the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing more than two hundred people." > — Overthrow - Americas century of regime change from Hawaii > "Shortly before 10:30 A.M. on Friday, August 7, 1998, two teams of suicide bombers rolled through two sprawling African capital cities." > — Ghost Wars ## 1998 — U.S. launches cruise missile strikes against bin Laden On August 20, 1998, in retaliation for the embassy bombings, the U.S. fired seventy-five Tomahawk cruise missiles at bin Laden's Zawhar Kili camps in Afghanistan and thirteen more at the al Shifa plant in Sudan. At least twenty-one jihadists died, but bin Laden was not among them. > "Seventy-five Tomahawk cruise missiles, each costing about $750,000, slammed into Zawhar Kili’s rock gorges at about 10 P.M. local time. At least twenty-one Pakistani jihadist volunteers died, and dozens more were wounded. Bin Laden was not among them." > — Ghost Wars ## 8 October 1998 — CIA Inspector General reports on Contra drug ties The CIA Inspector General's Hitz report found the agency had worked with Contra-related figures tied to drug trafficking and had not cut ties or reported them. It confirmed a pattern of tolerance rather than a single plot to sell drugs. ## 16 October 1998 — Pinochet arrested in London Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London on a Spanish warrant for human rights crimes, a landmark moment for international justice. He was later released on health grounds but faced charges in Chile. ## 2000 — USS Cole attacked by al Qaeda suicide bombers in Aden, Yemen On October 12, 2000, a small boat packed with explosives attacked the USS Cole, an American guided-missile destroyer docked in Aden, Yemen. The explosion killed 17 American sailors and wounded 30 more. > "October 12, a small tender boat packed with explosives glided alongside a 505-foot, American Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer docked at Aden, Yemen." > — Ghost Wars > "A month after Taloqan’s fall, on October 12, a small tender boat packed with explosives glided alongside a 505-foot, American Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer docked at Aden, Yemen." > — Ghost Wars ## 1 March 2000 — The concept of blowback enters public debate Scholar Chalmers Johnson popularized the term blowback, the CIA's own word for the unintended consequences of covert operations that come back to harm the country that launched them. His book argued US interventions were breeding future retaliation. ## 2001 — Al-Qaeda suicide bombers assassinate Ahmed Shah Massoud On September 9, 2001, two Arabs posing as television journalists detonated a bomb hidden in their camera while interviewing anti-Taliban commander Ahmed Shah Massoud in northern Afghanistan. The killing, two days before the 9/11 attacks, removed the Taliban's most formidable opponent. > "The explosion ripped the cameraman’s body apart. It smashed the room’s windows, seared the walls in flame, and tore Massoud’s chest with shrapnel." > — Ghost Wars ## 2001 — Nineteen hijackers assemble in the United States for 9/11 By mid-July 2001 all nineteen hijackers had entered the United States. Fifteen were Saudis, two Emiratis, one Egyptian, and one Lebanese; the trained pilots came from the Hamburg cell, and the "muscle" recruits arrived between April and June 2001 to await the signal, funded by al-Qaeda transfers from the Gulf. > "All nineteen of the attackers had safely entered the United States by mid-July. Fifteen were Saudi Arabians, including al-Mihdhar and al-Hazma." > — Ghost Wars ## c. 1 January 2001 — The "CIA created al-Qaeda" claim is contested A popular claim holds that the CIA directly created Osama bin Laden or al-Qaeda, but historians and declassified records do not support a direct link. The documented reality is blowback, US aid to Afghan factions that later fed movements it neither controlled nor intended. ## 17 January 2001 — School of the Americas is renamed WHINSEC Amid protests, the School of the Americas was replaced by the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Critics called the change mostly cosmetic. ## 11 September 2001 — The September 11 attacks and the blowback debate Al-Qaeda's attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and reopened debate over how the Afghan war's aftermath fed the group's rise. Scholars stress the documented chain of consequences, not a direct US plot to build al-Qaeda. ## c. 1 January 2013 — Arming Syrian rebels rebounds US and allied programs to arm Syrian rebels saw weapons and fighters flow to hardline groups, and some materiel reached jihadist factions. Officials later acknowledged the effort had limited control over where support ended up. ## 27 May 2016 — Argentine court convicts Condor plotters An Argentine court convicted former officers for their role in Operation Condor, ruling that it was a coordinated criminal conspiracy across borders. The verdict came four decades after the crimes.