Dec 22, 2014 realise that i do not know if this is a reliable book, still was the only one ive found about usa intervention on the war. This is a provocative and important book, telling us what the soviet military was thinking and feeling as it lost its war in afghanistan. The life of both sides were mainly miserable and the fighting was ruthless. Nov 25, 2012 gregory feifers book about the soviet experience in afghanistan is the best i have read to date. Former soviet soldiers still haunt afghanistan and american. Half are from russia, with the other half from nowindependent former soviet republics including ukraine. Trump was wrong about the soviet war in afghanistan the. Some 264 soviet soldiers who fought in the 19791989 war in afghanistan are still missing. One month after the invasion there were as many as 40,000 soviet troops in afghanistan, and during the first year the occupation forces were reorganized. Primer on russian afghan war, 19791989, lessons learned dave shunk 26 december 2008 col dave shunk, usaf, ret. A deserter from the 1980s soviet war in afghanistan dreamed for. Soviet war in afghanistan simple english wikipedia, the.
No wonder that russian soldiers can be amongst the hardestcore boozers around. If you are interested go listen to this mans voice on npr, from ten years. Despite heavy operational responsibilities and danger, he managed to take artful photographs which capture the stark landscape, friendly and unfriendly afghans and the men of his platoon in action and in repose. Afghanistan was also still receiving soviet military aid, worth four billion in. As russia on friday marked the 30th anniversary of the withdrawal of soviet troops from afghanistan, the memories are still fresh for the nurses. Us troop numbers in afghanistan by 30,000, bringing total to 100,000. The entry of the soviet union into the country caused an. A muslim woman officer in the soviet army during the soviet. Jan 01, 2009 the soviet war in afghanistan was a grueling debacle that has striking lessons for the twentyfirst century. Zinky boys has been on my toread list for a looooong time, since i first read about it over twenty years ago.
Despite the occasional bias, these lessons could still prove useful to. The soviet afghan war was a conflict wherein insurgent groups known collectively as the mujahideen as well as smaller maoist groups, fought a nineyear guerrilla war against the soviet army and the democratic republic of afghanistan government throughout the 1980s, mostly in the afghan countryside. Russian soldiers start a second life in afghanistan. From the lowly infantryman, the elite airborne soldiers, helicopter and mig pilots, field and political officers, and various mid and high level commanders we get more pieces of the puzzle to slowly. He told me about many russians who were still in afghanistan or who had come home. Jun 17, 2005 the invasion of afghanistan, russias vietnam, saw 23,000 of its soldiers killed between 1979 and 1989. In his enlightening and refreshing book, largely based on russian. The sovietafghan war was a conflict wherein insurgent groups known collectively as the mujahideen as well as smaller maoist groups, fought a nineyear guerrilla war against the soviet army and the democratic republic of afghanistan government throughout the 1980s, mostly in the afghan countryside. Also, i believe alexander the great ultimately left afghanistan. Currently foreign editor of ogonyok, the ussrs leading weekly news magazine and a staunch supporter of glasnost, he offers in this work an introductory essay which speculates on the scenario for the soviet unions entry into afghanistan in late december 1979, followed by two gripping accounts of russian soldiers under fireone in the spring of 1987 meet me at the three cranes and. During the last years of the cold war, the soviet union sent some of its most elite troops to unfamiliar lands in central asia. Mar 06, 20 a former soviet army soldier who went missing in action in 1980 during the soviet invasion of afghanistan has been found alive almost 33 years after he was rescued by afghan tribesmen. As a journalist borovik covered many aspects of the soviet war in afghanistan during the years and accurately and vividly reported what he found.
The greeks and persians in ancient times and the arabs and mongols in the medieval period set great precedents for modern incursions. Im sure there are a lot of books covering the afghanistan war against the soviets in general and with some good topics about usa intervention. Alexander lyakhovsky, who served in afghanistan in 19871989. The title of robert kaplans soldiers of god made me pick this book up and buy it and i was not sure exactly what to expect from it. Afghanistans geography has always placed it in peril. What i did not expect was a magnificent account of the mujahedeens long battle against the soviets, a clearer picture of the geography of afghanistan, its relationship with pakistan and the dark years of soviet invasion. How the horse soldiers helped liberate afghanistan from the. He also wrote in a 1996 book called my last war that the protracted war in afghanistan and. Why did they not employ the soviet army to suppress these movements. Briefing book on the soviet intervention in afghanistan.
Soviet troops went in expecting to be out in months and without having to fire. Fikryat tabeev, the soviet ambassador to afghanistan, was accused of acting like a governor general by gorbachev, and he was recalled from afghanistan in july 1986. The divide mostly occurred along a regional basis, with soviet soldiers from russia becoming part of the new russian army, while soviet soldiers originating from kazakhstan became part of the new kazakh army. The afghanistan war and the breakdown of the soviet union. Why does no one talk about the atrocities committed by afghan. Soviet soldiers and officers who were in captivity. In 1984 tamarov, then 19, was drafted into the soviet army and posted to afghanistan where he spent 20 months in a minesweeper outfit. Mar 20, 2012 but remember, the afghan people drove the soviet unions soldiers from the country and before them, the british. If anything, this was even more the case in soviet times when the very difficulties of getting hold of booze acted as a spur to the ingenuity for which russians are also rightly known. A russian soldiers story by vladislav tamarov a photo diary, with short essays.
The book contains information on the soviet forces, the army of the democratic republic of afghanistan dra and the many mujahideen groups. With the hidden war he provided the world its first glimpse inside the soviet military machine, capturing the soldiers terror, helplessness, and despair at waging war in a foreign land against an unseen enemy for unclear purposes. In the summer of 20, alexei nikolayev visited exsoviet soldiers in the wildest parts of. Page three explicitly warns soviet soldiers from buying any sort of item on the local market, including food, alcohol or narcotics. Dec 22, 2009 still, the men who took part in the soviet fight for afghanistan say that no matter how smart the obama administrations plans are for turning the tide, they stand little chance in a country. Dec 12, 2006 a former soviet soldier lives among afghans when the last soviet general left afghanistan in 1989, he declared that none of his soldiers were left behind. Drug abuse was rising and, worse still, soldiers sold equipment to the. A russian journalists account of the soviet war in afghanistan to portray the soviet war in afghanistan from a soldiers perspective. Turn around and show the afghans a sign of apology or at least of respect. Without proper equipment and training, the afghanistan government was unable to resist the opposition,called the mujahedeen, eventually seeking the aid of the soviet union. Grim nickname fits afghan tales of torture, murder the. Soviet soldier missing since 1980 found in afghanistan cnn.
Then well decide whether or not we can shake hands, said gennadynikmamats fellow soldiers after he had been assumed to be a traitor and disappeared for 29. Until his death in 2000, artyom borovik was considered one of the preeminent journalists in russia. Ive been curious for many years about how the soviet soldiers who fought in the sovietafghan war 197989 felt about their role in that long military misadventure, and what happened to its survivors. Best books about the soviet invasion of afghanistan. Women recall the hell of soviet war in afghanistan associated press. The soviet troops who stayed to live in afghanistan telegraph. Feb 14, 1988 among soldiers who have served in afghanistan, a common rationalization for the invasion is that if the soviet union had not stepped in, the united states would have if not with military force. After the dissolution of the soviet union, the soviet army dissolved and the ussrs successor states divided its assets among themselves. Photographer aleksey nikolaev who spent a month interviewing former soldiers for his book forever captive told rt the story of their integration into afghan society. February 16, 1989 last soviet soldiers leave afghanistan by bill keller, special to the new york times oscow the last soviet soldier came home from afghanistan this morning, the soviet union announced, leaving behind a war that had become a domestic burden and an international embarrassment for moscow. Best books about the soviet invasion of afghanistan history. Dec 12, 2014 the soviet union feared the loss of its communist proxy in afghanistan. Understanding war in afghanistan is an excellent book for journeyman students of afghanistan. Mar 05, 20 some 264 soviet soldiers who fought in the 19791989 war in afghanistan are still missing.
Primer on russian afghan war, 19791989, lessons learned 16. Jan 19, 2018 the terrain maps of afghanistan they were handed originated from the soviet invasion, and some still had russian scrawled on them. But while gorbachev called for the end of soviet management of afghanistan, he could not resist doing some managing himself. Jul 06, 2015 alexei nikolayev, a moscow photographer specializing in photo stories about russia and the former soviet republics, went to afghanistan to document the lives of six former soviet soldiers who had. In many ways this book attempts the same as artyom boroviks the hidden war. Judyt mandel, a 28year veteran of the state department and an expert on russia and the soviet union, says that perhaps 300 to 500 former soviet troops may still be in afghanistan. I know its different, thats always what youre told. May 16, 2008 afghanistan war tribute to all soviet soldiers. In the great gamble, gregory feifer examines the conflict from the perspective of the soldiers on the ground.
The mujahideen were backed primarily by the united states, saudi arabia, pakistan and the. Dozens of soviet soldiers held captive during the war in afghanistan over 25 years ago never returned. Understanding that the soviet unions troublesome economic and international situation was complicated by its involvement in the afghan war, gorbachev had decided to seek a withdrawal from afghanistan and had won the support of the politburo to do so by october 1985. At this point, afghanistan was barely even on the militarys radar. These special forces soldiers took on the taliban on horseback. The final troop withdrawal started on may 15, 1988, and ended on february 15, 1989, leaving the government forces alone in the battle against the insurgents.
Nov 05, 2014 at the outset of the american invasion in 2001, u. The soviet withdrawal from afghanistan 1989 national security. Not only does it give them a summary of afghanistans colorful geography and history, but it also presents an uptodate picture of where the war is heading and an informed discussion of the range of choice for afghanistan and its allies. Jan 04, 2019 when i was researching a 2009 book about the soviet war, i found enough time had passed for many veterans to be able to critically reflect on what they saw as a tragedy.
The secret history of the cia, afghanistan, and bin laden, from the soviet invasion to september 10, 2001 coll, steve on. The name afghanka is an unofficial popular slang term in russian for the uniform, derived from its prolific use during the soviet afghan war they are typically made of cotton. Currently foreign editor of ogonyok, the ussrs leading weekly news magazine and a staunch supporter of glasnost, he offers in this work an introductory essay which speculates on the scenario for the soviet unions entry into afghanistan in late december 1979, followed by two gripping accounts of russian soldiers under fireone in the spring of 1987 meet me at the three cranes and one dur ing the withdrawal the hidden war. The secret history of the cia, afghanistan, and bin laden, from the soviet invasion to september 10, 2001. Its most interesting aspect is not the overall historical narrative, which any good journalist can recount, but the personal interviews, where actual combatants relate their own experiences on the front lines, and their frustrations at having to prosecute a war that was unnecessary, poorly planned.
Soviet soldier presumed dead found living in afghanistan. Throughout history, foreign armies who happened to be in the neighborhood of central asia often stopped by afghanistan for an invasion or two. The afghan army still holds kunduz city, including this base at bala hissar. The british troops who died here by the thousands in three wars against afghan tribesmen in the 19th and early 20th centuries called afghanistan the grim. On the last day of the war, 15 february 1989, the soviet army had still not fully accounted for 333 soldiers who had gone missing in afghanistan.
Mar 10, 2020 i am in 100% agreement with you but i think this hypocracy is the result of many things but before ill tell you one more incident in the soviet afghan war 19791989 one russian soldier told his commanding officer that they have burned down a wh. The soviet war in afghanistan was a war initially fought between the forces of the afghanistan government and afghan assistance fighters, supporter from abroad. In fact, 226 soldiers remained, according to the russian cultural center in kabul men who were either still prisoners or had deserted. Alexei nikolayev, a moscow photographer specializing in photo stories about russia and the former soviet republics, went to afghanistan to document the lives of six former soviet soldiers who had.