Seeds of Terror

How Heroin Is Bankrolling the Taliban and Al Qaeda

By: Gretchen Peters

Narrated by: Laural Merlington

Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

Most Americans think of the Taliban and al Qaeda as a bunch of bearded fanatics fighting an Islamic crusade from caves in Afghanistan. But that doesn't explain their astonishing comeback along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Why is it that eight years after we invaded Afghanistan, the CIA says that these groups are better armed and better funded than ever? Seeds of Terror will reshape the way you think about America's enemies, revealing them less as ideologues and more as criminals who earn half a billion dollars every year off the opium trade.

With the breakneck pace of a thriller, author Gretchen Peters traces their illicit activities from vast poppy fields in southern Afghanistan to heroin labs run by Taliban commanders, from drug convoys armed with Stinger missiles to the money launderers of Karachi and Dubai. This isn't a fanciful conspiracy theory. Seeds of Terror is based on hundreds of interviews with Taliban fighters, smugglers, and law enforcement and intelligence agents. Their information is matched by intelligence reports shown to the author by frustrated U.S. officials who fear the next 9/11 will be far deadlier than the first---and paid for with drug profits.

Seeds of Terror makes the case that we must cut terrorists off from their drug earnings if we ever hope to beat them. This war isn't about ideology or religion. It's about creating a new economy for Afghanistan---and breaking the cycle of violence and extremism that has gripped the region for decades.

©2009 Gretchen Peters (P)2009 Tantor

Interesting topic, but an overabundance of detail

The core argument of the book is interesting, but in some places this almost feels like a masters thesis, where the author is just trying to jam in as many facts as possible to support the main argument. As a result the book is repetitive and is downright dull in places.

Reader

The engineer had the microphone set to every time the reader read a word with the letter "p" it almost blew my speakers and ears.

It would be nice if the readers knew how to pronounce the words correctly.

Can't recommend this one.

I have to agree with other reviewers that this book is basically a just a collection of anecdotal facts. Prior to this I listened to Krakauer's "Where Men Win Glory" which provides a good primer on the intricacies of the Afghanistan conflict as a backdrop to the main story. I thought this book would help complete the picture. Turns out "Where Men Win Glory" gave me a better understanding of the Afghanistan conflict, and was easier to understand, than this book.

More Information Than Story

This book is interesting and narrated well. It is obviously well researched and an important topic. Even with all that I could not give it more than a 3-star.

I think a really good audio book needs a bit more story to keep you listening and all the details like the Arabic names/places and dates (of course you need to include them) broke up the narrative.

If you have an interest in the region it is definitely worth getting, just don't plan on it keeping you awake on a long drive.