48. CIA, Afghanistan, and The Rest Is Classif...

To listen to the full episode, search The Book Club. Was Daisy Buchanan, the object of Jay Gatsby’s obsessive love in the novel, inspired by the author’s own love life? What window does The Great Gatsby open onto 1920s America, with its Jazz, flappers, and bootlegging? Who was F. ...  Show more

What is Trump's Iran endgame? Will the oil price spike force Trump to end the war? And, who is ultimately calling the shots? Join Katty Kay and Anthony Scaramucci as they answer all these questions and more. Listen to “Becoming Trump”. Unpack how Donald Trump was made: hidden fam ...  Show more

It has been thirteen years since Bashar al-Assad triggered a civil war which would kill hundreds of thousands of people and devastate Syria. Recent events have shown just how far his rule has shattered the nation. Today Alastair and Rory are joined by former CIA Syria Analyst Dav ...  Show more

America knew Al-Qaeda were behind the 9/11 attacks before the day was out. They knew they were being sheltered by the Taliban in Afghanistan and so the CIA went after them. Small teams were dropped behind enemy lines with bags of cash and very little else, instructed to link up w ...  Show more

They were scenes of utter desperation and chaos: thousands of Afghans crowded outside Kabul’s airport, as American troops withdrew and the Taliban swept the country in August 2021. In a congressional hearing last month, former Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley blamed the ...  Show more

Twenty years after 9/11, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan is moving faster than expected, and so is the Taliban’s takeover. The Taliban have already taken more than 50 of the country’s 400 districts since May, with the US intelligence community predicting that the Afghan govern ...  Show more