Author of Charlie Wilson’s War dies of cancer

 

LAHORE: Charlie Wilson’s War, a best-selling book about a rogue Central Intelligence Agency operation in Afghanistan during the Reagan administration, was thoroughly quoted by newspapers in Pakistan. But when its author, George Crile III, died of pancreatic cancer this month, barely anyone took notice.

George Crile produced several documentaries. But his best-known work was The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception, a controversial film that accused the US commander of forces in Vietnam of deliberately distorting and minimising enemy troop strength.

The motive, he claimed, was to mislead Congress into believing that the United States was actually winning the war.

Crile also covered Afghan rebels in their war with the Soviets in the 1980s. His job afforded him the opportunity to write Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History.

At the time of his death, he was working on a sequel to that book.

“It’s about what happened after the Afghans threw the Russians out and how we [the United States] went from being heroes to being so profoundly despised,” his wife told The Washington Post.

Crile died on May 15 at his home in New York City. He was 61.