Following the Hollywood hit, Charlie Wilson’s War, find out all you need to know about the true story. Click here for your chance to win a copy of Charlie Wilson's War on DVD plus a Nintendo DS.
 

The film

Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) is a charismatic and liberal Texas congressman, who joins forces with his sometimes lover, Houston socialite and active anti-communist Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), and CIA Operative Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in the largest covert operation in history…the arming of Afghan freedom fighters in their fight against the Soviet Union.

The incredible success of these three charming individuals saw the manipulation of Congress and the CIA, while forming unlikely alliances with foreign governments and arms dealers alike. Their combined efforts saw US funding for covert operations against the Soviets in Afghanistan increase from $5million at the start of the war to a staggering $1billion by 1989, and led to the eventual withdrawal of the Red Army from a newly equipped Afghanistan. The embarrassing withdrawal of Soviet forces further undermined the USSR and was a significant factor ending the Cold War.

After the unimaginable defeat of the superpower, Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq was asked how Afghan peasants delivered such a remarkable blow, to which he responded “Charlie did it”.

True story?

The film, adapted from the non-fiction book of the same name by George Crile, opens with the playful declaration: “Based on a true story. You think we could make this up?” So, did they?

The real Charlie

Charles Wilson was born in a small Texas town on 1st June 1933. Public school educated, Wilson went on to attend Sam Houston State University and later served in the US Navy. During leave from the Navy he became interested in politics and at the age of 27, was sworn into office as a Texas state representative. Twelve years later, in 1972, Wilson was elected to the US House of Representatives from the Second District of Texas.

A divorcee, Wilson never tried to conceal his hedonistic tendencies. He was soon dubbed ‘Good Time Charlie’ and surrounded himself and his office with beautiful women – his ‘Charlie’s Angels.’ Wilson was not a hypocrite though and more important still, he was an impassioned anti-communist at a time when anti-red sentiment had yet to thaw. Yet it was his devotion to the Afghan cause that would gain him notoriety.

According to his biographer, George Crile, Wilson’s interest in Afghanistan dated back to 1980. In the early summer of that year, Wilson read an Associated Press dispatch on the congressional wires that described hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Afghanistan. With a seat in the ‘Defense Appropriations Subcommittee’, responsible for funding CIA operations, Wilson was able to manoeuvre under the public's radar and so, the Congressman placed a call to the Appropriations Committee staffer who handled the CIA funds and demanded the CIA double their budget in Afghanistan.

While this increase was a mere drop in the ocean, it was nevertheless the first notable occasion when someone other than the President had moved unsolicited to increase the budget. Fortunately for Wilson, his demands were met.

Joanne Herring

Wilson’s relationship with the Southern belle Joanne Herring acted as a further catalyst in the evolution of aid in Afghanistan.

Born as Joanne Johnston in Houston, Texas in 1929, Herring studied at the University of Austin, but left after a year. Thrice married, she was labelled a ‘party girl’ and is still famed within Texan society for her 30th birthday party, which was said by some to have been a ‘Roman orgy’. Parallels have been drawn between her, Scarlett O’Hara and Dolly Parton.

Herring became involved in the politics of Afghanistan upon marrying oil tycoon Robert Herring. Mr Herring was offered the post of roving honorary consul representing Pakistan in America – an offer which he handed down to his wife. The post involved extensive travel to Pakistan and Joanne Herring found herself becoming very well acquainted with the region at a time when the troubles were surfacing. In 1979 – just months after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan – Herring smuggled herself across the border from Pakistan in order to collect footage of their atrocities. In an interview for The Daily Telegraph, Herring remarked: “Many times I wondered what a nice girl from Texas was doing in a place like that. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would have ended up in the underbelly of the world fighting the demons of communism.” Yet this footage later proved fundamental. When romance blossomed between her and Charlie Wilson in the early 1980s, Herring showed it to him.

Pakistan and Beyond

Joanne Herring used her regional acumen to ignite a bond between Wilson and Pakistan’s military dictator Mohammed Zia ul-Huq and, in 1982, Wilson found himself on Pakistani soil.

By this time, Pakistan had become a hotbed of Afghan resistance and refugee camps had mushroomed on the border between the two countries. Wilson witnessed first hand the horrors that the Soviets were reaping on the Afghan population. He was particularly moved by children who had fallen victim to the Soviet-constructed booby-trapped toys, an issue that Ronald Reagan directly excoriated Mikhail Gorbachev over at the Geneva Summit in November 1985.

Wilson’s determination to solve the problems in Afghanistan soon became further entrenched. During one of his visits, he asked Afghan refugees what he could do to help; the governing consensus was a desire for redemption and revenge. Funding for armaments was imperative.

Gust Avrakotos

Wilson set to work immediately to deliver these wishes. As the sums inflated in size, the CIA put an out-of-favour CIA operative in charge – Gust Avrakotos. Nicknamed ‘Dr. Dirty’, Avrakotos’ working-class Greek-American background differentiated him from the Ivy League world of American spies. He was aggressive, but inspired. He was also vehemently anti-Communist. Thus, when he was called upon to help in Afghanistan, he jumped at the opportunity and without delay handpicked a body of elite CIA operatives to aid him in the operation. The golden axis had been formed.

They Did It

From the early 1980s through to the decade’s close, funds grew from aid totalling a few million dollars a year to $750 million per year. Billions of rounds of ammunition and hundreds of thousands of weapons were smuggled across the border on the backs of donkeys, mules, and camels, to help the Afghan Mujahideen expel the Soviets. Seventeen million dollars was also allocated for stinger missiles to shoot down Soviet attack helicopters. Estimates suggest that at one point more than 300,000 fundamentalist Afghan warriors carried weapons provided by the CIA and thousands were trained in the art of urban terror. Before the Soviet army called it quits in Afghanistan in 1989, 28,000 Soviet soldiers had been killed. Afghanistan had become the Soviets’ Vietnam.

The Aftermath

Within one year of the Soviet army leaving Afghanistan, the Berlin Wall fell. The collapse of the Soviet Union was fast on its tail.

Many believe Wilson and his gang’s successful personal war may have accelerated this process. As quoted by Crile, Wilson said: "I truly believe that this caused the Berlin Wall to come down a good five, maybe 10 years before it would have otherwise. At least 100 million Eastern Europeans are breathing free today, to say nothing of the Russian people. It’s the truth.”

Others though are keen to assert that while Wilson deserves a place in history, this could be more a footnote than a central credit. The fall of communism was by no means mono-causal and the events and actions of other players were arguably just as paramount, if not far more.

Bitter Ironies

During the 1980s, Wilson always portended that Afghanistan was one of the few morally black and white causes the United States had supported since the Second World War. No member of Congress stood up to protest or query the astronomic expenditures.

Alas, the aftermath proved more ethically ambiguous. With America walking away from Afghanistan after the Soviets left, much needed aid for development was denied. Within this fragile context, the Mujahideen eventually split, with several factions emerging, including the now infamous Taliban. It could be argued – and indeed has been – that the CIA-led operation helped fund Osama bin Laden and eventually led to 9/11.

Of course, this crosses the border into hypothetical history. Wilson himself, in an interview with Time Magazine, reflects: “We were fighting the evil empire. It would have been like not supplying the Soviets against Hitler in World War II. Anyway, who the hell had ever heard of the Taliban then?”

The End

Charlie Wilson’s acts of bravery were honoured in 1989 when he was invited to the CIA headquarters to celebrate the end of the stalemate in Afghanistan. It was here that a large screen in an auditorium bellowed Zia ul-Haq’s message: “Charlie did it.” Wilson retired from Congress seven years later.