Tradecraft: Spies On Horses

Some people think the Palmyra scenes in Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery jumping the horse off the castle are silly. Not Disney. They've just acquired the screen rights to a whole book about spies on horses. And it's based on a true story! And it's serious. The book is Horse Soldiers, by Doug Stanton, due out in May from Scribner. Variety summarizes it thusly: "Story revolves around a band of elite special forces and CIA operatives who secretly invaded Afghanistan post-9/11 on horseback and helped Afghan fighters capture the city of Mazar-i-Sharif and topple the Taliban.... The operatives helped orchestrate the invasion by bribing local warlords and using high-tech communications to coordinate the assault and equip the Afghan soldiers. They also held off an ambush during the surrender of hundreds of Taliban troops." Sounds exciting! I'm in.