DIRECTORATE S The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan

The title of this taut audiobook refers to a small wing of the Pakistani Intelligence Service, the I.S.I., whose job it was to train and arm Taliban fighters to expand Pakistan's influence in Afghanistan after 9/11. The work of this directorate had a direct and negative effect on the United States' ability to successfully prosecute a war that continues to this day. Narrator Malcolm Hillgartner delivers this audiobook in a deep authoritative voice that captures its mood and purpose. He doesn't have an especially elastic voice, but he can vary his reading enough to keep the story moving. Hillgartner also mixes in some light character voices and superb pronunciations of Afghan and Pakistani names and places. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2018]