The Afghan-Soviet War

This is a detailed account of the Soviet Union’s war on Afghanistan, which began in 1979, and ended in 1989. Based on the Soviet official Documents, the secondary Soviet and Afghan sources, and the author’s journal of the events of part of the occupation period, and his personal observations the work is a sound piece of scholarship. The resistance story is stunning as the Afghan fighters, known as the mujahideen, fought the army of the Soviet superpower so bravely and relentlessly that surprised the Soviet leaders who thought the war will be over shortly. The western supporters of the mujahideen were likewise surprised. The Soviet failure in Afghanistan had worldwide repercussions including its own empire’s dissolution in late 1991.