First In How Seven CIA Officers Opened the War on Terror in Afghanistan

Just days from retirement, Schroen, a former CIA station chief in Pakistan, was tapped to lead the effort to establish contact with the Northern Alliance in the days following 9/11; the 35-year CIA veteran commanded the first American team on the ground in Afghanistan. At the proverbial tip of the spear, the team slipped into the country and made contact with the Northern Alliance (a loose confederation of Afghan warlords that had been fighting the Taliban government and their al-Qaeda allies), secured their cooperation and set the stage for the deployment of Special Forces teams into Afghanistan. Schroen tells the story crisply and with intimate detail, taking readers on a journey that lurches from harrowing through exhilarating to frustrating—particularly in the realm of communications. “Sitting in the Panjshir Valley,” the author glumly concludes, “I seemed to be shouting down a deep, dark hole” at brass thousands of miles away. Events eventually outran the policymakers, however, when a Northern Alliance general finally lost his patience and announced to his CIA contact, “I am going into Kabul regardless of what your NSC decides.” Schroen delivers what he advertises: a powerful account that takes the reader inside war councils and 19th-century– style cavalry charges in the months just after 9/11. (May 31)
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User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Interesting First Hand Account
The author Gary Schroen gives a vivid description of Operation Jawbreaker, the American incursion into Afganistan after the events of 9/11/2001. The author first describes his own experience on the fateful day when the towers fell and the Pentagon was attacked, and goes through his past experience with Afganistan and many of the important political figures in that beleagured country. You can tell that the author cares about Afganistan and it’s people and is aware of the tribal and religious differences which have created ongoing conflict in the area.

The author describes the preparations for and the objectives of Jawbreaker and gives a description of the team-members under code-names where appropriate. He gives a good description of the flight in to the Tajik area of Afganistan and the living accomodations as well as the interactions he had with General Fahim and his representative Engineer Aref.

Four important themes addressed in the book should be noted and are of particular importance.

1- American foreign policy official’s concern about Pakistani interests in the Pashtun areas crippled to some degree and subordinated support for the Northern Alliance and influenced the targetting of the early bombing raids.

2- The Northern Alliance was a coalition of somewhat disparate groups who though had coelesced around Masood, had their own interests and those disparate interests would play a role in Afganistan’s future.

3- American foreign policy officials didn’t trust the northern alliance, but in the end, had to accept that they were the only viable military alternative to the Taliban forces.

4- Early bombing priorities were largely ineffective against the Taliban and that political realities hampered military objectives the early part of the Afganistan campaign.

The book is not without it’s flaws. Some of it is written from first-person perspective of the author, while some is written from the perspective of his subordinates who engaged in operations when the author was not present. There is a bit of a disjointed feel to the book when the author goes home, and accounts alternate between attacks in the Kabul sector and Pashtun areas where the inexperienced and largely ineffective militia assembled by Hamid Karzai was operating. You are reminded that this was not written by a professional author, but by a CIA operative who is very knowledgable about Afganistan.

Despite the flaws, this book is a very valuable account that will certainly be widely referenced in any future discourse regarding Afganistan and the American experience there. And more than that, all Americans owe the author a sincere thanks for putting off his retirement, to put his country’s interests first and use his knowledge of Afganistan in our desire to get back at Al Qaeda and their Taliban hosts.

5 Stars rob from texas
good read. authordoes a great job chronicling the first two months in afghanistan after 911. sticks to his subject and gives a good account of events.

5 Stars A very informative view of CIA in Afganistan
After watching an interview with Gary Shroen on FOX TV, I knew this was going to be an interesting read. It is a very good description of the CIA spearhead into the war against Osama Bin Laden. “First In” leaves the reader with an understanding of how the CIA works and doesn’t work. The government beauracracy into the operation is unbelievable at times. The reader must read “Jawbreaker” also to get a better understanding of the mission. Both books give a picture of the tribal factions in that part of the world an why this war is different.

5 Stars WORD OF MOUTH IS BEST
I purchased this book because I heard reviews from soldiers who served in Iraq & Afghanistan. All said this book represents the truth & not limited/censored press reports. I bought it because I wanted know the truth about various living conditions & the US progress in addressing the Taliban & Al Queda issue. My rating is based on hear say because I have not read the book yet, but I trust in the words of those who recommended it.

4 Stars A Personal Account from the Bleeding Edge
First In, is a first person account of the events between the 19th of September until the 10th of November, told mainly from the perspective of Gary Schroen, leader of the JAWBREAKER CIA squad sent to establish relations with the Northern Alliance in the Panjshir Valley, near the stalemated frontlines of the Taliban. Despite being the lead of US forces in Afghanistan (a 7 man crew), his account is very low to the ground, recounting the incessant problems of Diarrhea and relations and the daily interactions with Northern Alliance leaders. The details make the story, such as taking naps on boxes holding $10 million in cash or the simple pleasure of Starbucks coffee brewed in the field.

Schroen still manages to give a picture of how the Afghanistan war unfolded, with ground forces of the Northern Alliance and the Taliban hemmed in to their respective defensive positions. He details how the US military consistently acted ponderously or incompetently. One poignant example is when Schroen was called by the Air Force to confirm coordinates for a Predator UAV strike; he realized that the `thin man wearing western clothing’ was not Bin Laden, but his teammate Ed. Schroen combines the personal narrative with sections from other teams across Afghanistan, when they took Mazar-e-Sharif or the perils of Karzai in the south. The timeline ends with the fall of Kabul, with only a small afterward from 2004.

For what it aims to do, the book succeeds with flying colors. Schroen makes his opinions known, but they do not interfere with the story. Mild prose is overwhelmed by the amount of detail and clear description of the conflicts in strategy among the myriad of parties involved, making for a compelling and informative story.

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