Charlie Wilson’s War
A hard-living Texas congressman partners with a CIA operative and a determined socialite to funnel covert aid to Afghan fighters battling the Soviet army. Political horse-trading, black-budget tricks, and personal excess drive the secret campaign. Charlie Wilson’s War follows Charlie Wilson, a Texas congressman known for parties, scotch, and a revolving door of companions, as he is drawn into the Soviet-Afghan conflict. After seeing refugee camps and the scale of the fighting, he links up with street-smart CIA officer Gust Avrakotos, who has been sidelined inside the agency. Houston socialite Joanne Herring presses Wilson to treat the war as an existential Cold War fight and opens doors with foreign contacts and donors. Wilson uses his seat on key committees to quietly multiply the black budget that buys weapons for the mujahideen. Bureaucratic resistance, inter-agency turf fights, and W