Most everyone is familiar with the story of Charlie Wilson' s War, immortalized on the big screen by actor Tom Hanks in the title role. What most people aren' t familiar with are the countless stories of the boots on the ground who helped the determined Congressman Charlie Wilson execute his mission to help free the people of Afghanistan from Soviet occupation. The Stinger Proxy, a novel based on my own personal experience as an Army bomb tech who served in " Charlie Wilson' s War," is one such story. Set in 1988 at the height of the Cold War, a large U.S.-funded supply of weapons and ammunition bound for Afghanistan mysteriously explodes in Islamabad, Pakistan. A young Army sergeant is quickly deployed with a hand-picked team of Explosive Ordnance Disposal soldiers to assist the Pakistan Army with cleanup operations. What they uncover is an intricate plot to steal the most valuable of those weapons - the Stinger missiles that had been helping the Afghan Mujahideen turn the tide against the occupying Soviet Army. The classified mission, led by two seasoned Vietnam veterans, is soon compromised by an unknown security breach and the team is targeted by hostile intelligence operatives. Fearing for the lives of the EOD team, the CIA must hide them in a safehouse until the threat is mitigated. In the course of their work, the American EOD team encounters two integral characters in this tortuous plot. None better than " Jeb" — the covert Green Beret colonel who has been facilitating weapons shipments to Afghanistan for years. And none worse than " Whitebeard" — the Pakistani Army general and deputy director of Inter-Services Intelligence who orchestrates the plan to lift the Stingers. With the Stinger missiles now in the wrong hands, it' s anybody' s guess how, or where, they' ll be used. The team must come to terms with the possibility that the Stingers— once bound for Afghanistan— may ultimately have been used in the assassination of Pakistani President Muhammad Zia ulHaq and two American diplomats. Adding to the intrigue is the beautiful CIA Officer " Tara" who is tasked with tracking the leak that led to the threat against the EOD team. She inadvertently falls for the young sergeant in the process, and the two must reconcile their feelings with the fact that their relationship can' t last. While this story takes place some thirty-three years ago, it is relevant as a contrast and comparison to the current situation in Afghanistan. It speaks to the best intentions of our nation, and how those intentions often go awry.
