The Spy With the Proxy Army: Gust Avrakotos and the CIA's Afghan War

Before the Soviet war in Afghanistan became one of the defining conflicts of the Cold War, it was a small covert program hidden deep inside the CIA.

The man who helped turn it into something much larger was Gust Avrakotos.

A blunt, unconventional case officer who rarely fit the culture of Langley, Avrakotos became one of the key figures behind the CIA's effort to arm and supply Afghan fighters resisting the Soviet invasion. Working through intelligence channels, foreign intermediaries, and a ...