Afghan Air Wars

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Afghan Air Wars

Author : Michael Napier
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1472859030
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (728 download)

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Book Synopsis Afghan Air Wars by : Michael Napier

Download or read book Afghan Air Wars written by Michael Napier and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-09-28 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michael Napier details the critical role of air power in the skies over Afghanistan, from the ten-year occupation by the USSR in the 1980s through to the US and NATO campaign from 2001 to 2021. US and British forces, strongly supported by air power, invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 in response to the Al Qaida attacks on 9/11. What began as a small-scale operation of 2,500 troops with the limited objective of destroying Al Qaida became ever larger, growing to over 100,000 troops ten years later. This experience matched that of the Soviets after their invasion in late 1979, when they saw a massive increase in resistance by Mujahidin. Afghan Air Wars details how Soviet aircraft including the MiG-21, MiG-23, Su-17 and Su-25, as well as Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters supported Soviet offensives in the Panjshir Valley and other regions. Despite these high-octane operations and overwhelming air superiority, Soviet forces eventually withdrew. Some 20 years later, US and NATO air forces were deployed in similar roles. F-15E, F-16, F/A-18, A-10, Mirage, Harrier and Tornado aircraft all saw action in the skies over Afghanistan as did the CH-47 Chinook and AH-64 Apache helicopters. Mike Napier fully details their series of operations in a hostile environment as well as the advent of high-resolution targeting pods and Precision Guided Munitions (PGM) which enabled aircraft to stand off from threat areas and also to deploy their weapons with deadly accuracy. The conflict also saw the groundbreaking introduction of Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPV) into routine air operations. Afghan Air Wars is richly illustrated with over 240 images – both official photos and privately taken, in-theatre images which have not been previously published. It also includes first-hand accounts by aircrews involved to create a unique and comprehensive picture of the part played by air power over Afghanistan in the last 40 years.

Air War Afghanistan

Author : Tim Ripley
Publisher : Pen and Sword Aviation
ISBN 13 : 9781848843561
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (435 download)

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Book Synopsis Air War Afghanistan by : Tim Ripley

Download or read book Air War Afghanistan written by Tim Ripley and published by Pen and Sword Aviation. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an overview of NATO and other Allied air power in the lengthy campaign to secure democracy in Afghanistan, and destroy Taliban and other extremist terror forces in the combat zone. Tim Ripley has had access to all NATO air bases in the area and brings an unprecedented degree of detail and accuracy to the book.

Air Power in the Age of Primacy

Author : Phil Haun
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108839223
Total Pages : 335 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (88 download)

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Book Synopsis Air Power in the Age of Primacy by : Phil Haun

Download or read book Air Power in the Age of Primacy written by Phil Haun and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-12-16 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyzes the effectiveness of post-Cold War air wars in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and against terrorist groups.

Afghan War & the Stinger Saga

Author : Mahmood Ahmed Ghazi
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9789699225154
Total Pages : 133 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (251 download)

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Book Synopsis Afghan War & the Stinger Saga by : Mahmood Ahmed Ghazi

Download or read book Afghan War & the Stinger Saga written by Mahmood Ahmed Ghazi and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Afghanistan Papers

Author : Craig Whitlock
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1982159014
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (821 download)

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Book Synopsis The Afghanistan Papers by : Craig Whitlock

Download or read book The Afghanistan Papers written by Craig Whitlock and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-08-30 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Washington Post Best Book of 2021 The #1 New York Times bestselling investigative story of how three successive presidents and their military commanders deceived the public year after year about America’s longest war, foreshadowing the Taliban’s recapture of Afghanistan, by Washington Post reporter and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Craig Whitlock. Unlike the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 had near-unanimous public support. At first, the goals were straightforward and clear: defeat al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. Yet soon after the United States and its allies removed the Taliban from power, the mission veered off course and US officials lost sight of their original objectives. Distracted by the war in Iraq, the US military become mired in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country it did not understand. But no president wanted to admit failure, especially in a war that began as a just cause. Instead, the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations sent more and more troops to Afghanistan and repeatedly said they were making progress, even though they knew there was no realistic prospect for an outright victory. Just as the Pentagon Papers changed the public’s understanding of Vietnam, The Afghanistan Papers contains “fast-paced and vivid” (The New York Times Book Review) revelation after revelation from people who played a direct role in the war from leaders in the White House and the Pentagon to soldiers and aid workers on the front lines. In unvarnished language, they admit that the US government’s strategies were a mess, that the nation-building project was a colossal failure, and that drugs and corruption gained a stranglehold over their allies in the Afghan government. All told, the account is based on interviews with more than 1,000 people who knew that the US government was presenting a distorted, and sometimes entirely fabricated, version of the facts on the ground. Documents unearthed by The Washington Post reveal that President Bush didn’t know the name of his Afghanistan war commander—and didn’t want to meet with him. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted that he had “no visibility into who the bad guys are.” His successor, Robert Gates, said: “We didn’t know jack shit about al-Qaeda.” The Afghanistan Papers is a “searing indictment of the deceit, blunders, and hubris of senior military and civilian officials” (Tom Bowman, NRP Pentagon Correspondent) that will supercharge a long-overdue reckoning over what went wrong and forever change the way the conflict is remembered.

The Afghan Air War

Author : Rebecca Grant
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 28 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (575 download)

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Book Synopsis The Afghan Air War by : Rebecca Grant

Download or read book The Afghan Air War written by Rebecca Grant and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Air Force and Navy, using precision laser-guided and satellite-guided munitions, made every strike count. With a minimum of collateral damage and bloodshed, the air strikes enabled the Northern Alliance to overcome the Taliban's numerical advantage and their supply of tanks, artillery and vehicles and retake the 80 percent of Afghanistan once controlled by that oppressive regime. At the same time, the air component mounted a major humanitarian relief effort and delivered nearly all materiel to surrounding bases by air. It proved the validity of a concept: US and allied airpower can work efficiently with local ground forces to accomplish the combatant commander's objectives. Afghanistan demonstrated that the United States, by committing its joint air forces, even in an uncertain tactical environment, can enable American-led forces to dominate and prevail.

Airpower in Afghanistan 2005-10

Author : Dag Henriksen
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 301 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (98 download)

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Book Synopsis Airpower in Afghanistan 2005-10 by : Dag Henriksen

Download or read book Airpower in Afghanistan 2005-10 written by Dag Henriksen and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Why We Lost

Author : Daniel P. Bolger
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN 13 : 0544370481
Total Pages : 565 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (443 download)

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Book Synopsis Why We Lost by : Daniel P. Bolger

Download or read book Why We Lost written by Daniel P. Bolger and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2014 with total page 565 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A high-ranking general's gripping insider account of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and how it all went wrong. Over a thirty-five-year career, Daniel Bolger rose through the army infantry to become a three-star general, commanding in both theaters of the U.S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. He participated in meetings with top-level military and civilian players, where strategy was made and managed. At the same time, he regularly carried a rifle alongside rank-and-file soldiers in combat actions, unusual for a general. Now, as a witness to all levels of military command, Bolger offers a unique assessment of these wars, from 9/11 to the final withdrawal from the region. Writing with hard-won experience and unflinching honesty, Bolger makes the firm case that in Iraq and in Afghanistan, we lost -- but we didn't have to. Intelligence was garbled. Key decision makers were blinded by spreadsheets or theories. And, at the root of our failure, we never really understood our enemy. Why We Lost is a timely, forceful, and compulsively readable account of these wars from a fresh and authoritative perspective.

The American War in Afghanistan

Author : Carter Malkasian
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0197550797
Total Pages : 601 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (975 download)

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Book Synopsis The American War in Afghanistan by : Carter Malkasian

Download or read book The American War in Afghanistan written by Carter Malkasian and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-15 with total page 601 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book Winner of 2022 Lionel Gelber Prize The first authoritative history of American's longest war by one of the world's leading scholar-practitioners. The American war in Afghanistan, which began in 2001, is now the longest armed conflict in the nation's history. It is currently winding down, and American troops are likely to leave soon but only after a stay of nearly two decades. In The American War in Afghanistan, Carter Malkasian provides the first comprehensive history of the entire conflict. Malkasian is both a leading academic authority on the subject and an experienced practitioner, having spent nearly two years working in the Afghan countryside and going on to serve as the senior advisor to General Joseph Dunford, the US military commander in Afghanistan and later the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Drawing from a deep well of local knowledge, understanding of Pashto, and review of primary source documents, Malkasian moves through the war's multiple phases: the 2001 invasion and after; the light American footprint during the 2003 Iraq invasion; the resurgence of the Taliban in 2006, the Obama-era surge, and the various resets in strategy and force allocations that occurred from 2011 onward, culminating in the 2018-2020 peace talks. Malkasian lived through much of it, and draws from his own experiences to provide a unique vantage point on the war. Today, the Taliban is the most powerful faction, and sees victory as probable. The ultimate outcome after America leaves is inherently unpredictable given the multitude of actors there, but one thing is sure: the war did not go as America had hoped. Although the al-Qa'eda leader Osama bin Laden was killed and no major attack on the American homeland was carried out after 2001, the United States was unable to end the violence or hand off the war to the Afghan authorities, which could not survive without US military backing. The American War in Afghanistan explains why the war had such a disappointing outcome. Wise and all-encompassing, The American War in Afghanistan provides a truly vivid portrait of the conflict in all of its phases that will remain the authoritative account for years to come.

Into the Fire

Author : Dakota Meyer
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 0679645446
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (796 download)

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Book Synopsis Into the Fire by : Dakota Meyer

Download or read book Into the Fire written by Dakota Meyer and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-09-25 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The story of what Dakota did . . . will be told for generations.”—President Barack Obama, from remarks given at Meyer’s Medal of Honor ceremony In the fall of 2009, Taliban insurgents ambushed a patrol of Afghan soldiers and Marine advisors in a mountain village called Ganjigal. Firing from entrenched positions, the enemy was positioned to wipe out one hundred men who were pinned down and were repeatedly refused artillery support. Ordered to remain behind with the vehicles, twenty-one year-old Marine corporal Dakota Meyer disobeyed orders and attacked to rescue his comrades. With a brave driver at the wheel, Meyer stood in the gun turret exposed to withering fire, rallying Afghan troops to follow. Over the course of the five hours, he charged into the valley time and again. Employing a variety of machine guns, rifles, grenade launchers, and even a rock, Meyer repeatedly repulsed enemy attackers, carried wounded Afghan soldiers to safety, and provided cover for dozens of others to escape—supreme acts of valor and determination. In the end, Meyer and four stalwart comrades—an Army captain, an Afghan sergeant major, and two Marines—cleared the battlefield and came to grips with a tragedy they knew could have been avoided. For his actions on that day, Meyer became the first living Marine in three decades to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Into the Fire tells the full story of the chaotic battle of Ganjigal for the first time, in a compelling, human way that reveals it as a microcosm of our recent wars. Meyer takes us from his upbringing on a farm in Kentucky, through his Marine and sniper training, onto the battlefield, and into the vexed aftermath of his harrowing exploits in a battle that has become the stuff of legend. Investigations ensued, even as he was pitched back into battle alongside U.S. Army soldiers who embraced him as a fellow grunt. When it was over, he returned to the States to confront living with the loss of his closest friends. This is a tale of American values and upbringing, of stunning heroism, and of adjusting to loss and to civilian life. We see it all through Meyer’s eyes, bullet by bullet, with raw honesty in telling of both the errors that resulted in tragedy and the resolve of American soldiers, U.S. Marines, and Afghan soldiers who’d been abandoned and faced certain death. Meticulously researched and thrillingly told, with nonstop pace and vivid detail, Into the Fire is the unvarnished story of a modern American hero. Praise for Into the Fire “A story of men at their best and at their worst . . . leaves you gaping in admiration at Medal of Honor winner Dakota Meyer’s courage.”—National Review “Meyer’s dazzling bravery wasn’t momentary or impulsive but deliberate and sustained.”—The Wall Street Journal “[A] cathartic, heartfelt account . . . Combat memoirs don’t get any more personal.”—Kirkus Reviews “A great contribution to the discussion of an agonizingly complex subject.”—The Virginian-Pilot “Black Hawk Down meets Lone Survivor.”—Library Journal

Planning to Fail

Author : James H. Lebovic
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190935332
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (99 download)

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Book Synopsis Planning to Fail by : James H. Lebovic

Download or read book Planning to Fail written by James H. Lebovic and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-03-07 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States national-security establishment is vast, yet the United States has failed to meet its initial objectives in almost every one of its major, post-World War II conflicts. Of these troubled efforts, the US wars in Vietnam (1965-73), Iraq (2003-11), and Afghanistan (2001-present) stand out for their endurance, resource investment, human cost, and miscalculated decisions. Because overarching policy goals are distant and open to interpretation, policymakers ground their decisions in the immediate world of short-term objectives, salient tasks, policy constraints, and fixed time schedules. As a consequence, they exaggerate the benefits of their preferred policies, ignore the accompanying costs and requirements, and underappreciate the benefits of alternatives. In Planning to Fail, James H. Lebovic argues that a profound myopia helps explain US decision-making failures. In each of the wars explored in this book, he identifies four stages of intervention. First and foremost, policymakers chose unwisely to go to war. After the fighting began, they inadvisably sought to extend or expand the mission. Next, they pursued the mission, in abbreviated form, to suboptimal effect. Finally, they adapted the mission to exit from the conflict. Lebovic argues that US leaders were effectively planning to fail whatever their hopes and thoughts were at the time the intervention began. Decision-makers struggled less than they should have, even when conditions allowed for good choices. Then, when conditions on the ground left them with only bad choices, they struggled furiously and more than could ever matter. Policymakers allowed these wars to sap available capabilities, push US forces to the breaking point, and exhaust public support. They finally settled for terms of departure that they (or their predecessors) would have rejected at the start of these conflicts. Offering a far-ranging and detailed analysis, this book identifies an unmistakable pattern of failure and highlights lessons we can learn from it.

The Speed of Heat

Author : Thomas W. Young
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786455322
Total Pages : 275 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

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Book Synopsis The Speed of Heat by : Thomas W. Young

Download or read book The Speed of Heat written by Thomas W. Young and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2010-03-22 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With its fleet of large transport aircraft, the United States military can put personnel and equipment anywhere on the globe within hours. In the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in particular, virtually every soldier, every bullet, every pint of blood, and every bite of food have arrived in the war zone by airlift. This book tells the story of one Air National Guard airlift wing as related by its members. The 167th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard consisted of a squadron of 12 C-130 cargo planes, their crews, and all the supporting sections--in all, more than 1,200 people. The author, a former Associated Press reporter turned aviator, flew as an active member of that unit and interviewed nearly 70 servicemen and women for this book. They include aircrews who dodged heat-seeking missiles, mechanics who made combat repairs, flight nurses who treated and transported the wounded, even two motor pool truck drivers struck by a roadside bomb.

Television and the Afghan Culture Wars

Author : Wazhmah Osman
Publisher : University of Illinois Press
ISBN 13 : 0252052439
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (52 download)

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Book Synopsis Television and the Afghan Culture Wars by : Wazhmah Osman

Download or read book Television and the Afghan Culture Wars written by Wazhmah Osman and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2020-12-14 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Portrayed in Western discourse as tribal and traditional, Afghans have in fact intensely debated women's rights, democracy, modernity, and Islam as part of their nation building in the post-9/11 era. Wazhmah Osman places television at the heart of these public and politically charged clashes while revealing how the medium also provides war-weary Afghans with a semblance of open discussion and healing. After four decades of gender and sectarian violence, she argues, the internationally funded media sector has the potential to bring about justice, national integration, and peace. Fieldwork from across Afghanistan allowed Osman to record the voices of many Afghan media producers and people. Afghans offer their own seldom-heard views on the country's cultural progress and belief systems, their understandings of themselves, and the role of international interventions. Osman analyzes the impact of transnational media and foreign funding while keeping the focus on local cultural contestations, productions, and social movements. As a result, she redirects the global dialogue about Afghanistan to Afghans and challenges top-down narratives of humanitarian development.

Flight Risk

Author : Forrest L. Marion
Publisher : Naval Institute Press
ISBN 13 : 1682473619
Total Pages : 307 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (824 download)

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Book Synopsis Flight Risk by : Forrest L. Marion

Download or read book Flight Risk written by Forrest L. Marion and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2018-10-15 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the 1920s Afghanistan maintained a small air arm that depended heavily upon outside assistance. Starting in 2005, the United States led an air advisory campaign to rebuild the Afghan Air Force (AAF). In 2007 a formal joint/combined entity, led by a U.S. Air Force brigadier general, began air advisor work with Afghan airmen. Between 2007 and 2011, these efforts made modest progress in terms of infrastructures, personnel and aircraft accessions, and various training courses. But by 2010, advisors increasingly viewed AAF command and control (C2) as a problem area that required significant improvement if a professional air force was to be built. In the spring of 2011, major institutional changes to AAF C2 procedures were being introduced when nine U.S. air advisors were killed. The attack was the worst single-incident loss of U.S. Air Force personnel in a deployed location since 1996 and the worst insider-attack since 2001. From the day of that tragic event, the cultural chasm between Afghanistan and the West became more apparent. This dilemma continues with no end in sight to an air advisory mission of uncertain long-term value.

Danger Close

Author : Steve Call
Publisher : Texas A&M University Press
ISBN 13 : 1603441425
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (34 download)

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Book Synopsis Danger Close by : Steve Call

Download or read book Danger Close written by Steve Call and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2010-01-15 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “America had a secret weapon,” writes Steve Call of the period immediately following September 11, 2001, as planners contemplated the invasion of Afghanistan. This weapon consisted of small teams of Special Forces operatives trained in close air support (CAS) who, in cooperation with the loose federation of Afghan rebels opposed to the Taliban regime, soon began achieving impressive—and unexpected—military victories over Taliban forces and the al-Qaeda terrorists they had sponsored. The astounding success of CAS tactics coupled with ground operations in Afghanistan soon drew the attention of military decision makers and would eventually factor into the planning for another campaign: Operation Iraqi Freedom. But who, exactly, are these air power experts and what is the function of the TACPs (Tactical Air Control Parties) in which they operate? Danger Close provides a fascinating look at a dedicated, courageous, innovative, and often misunderstood and misused group of military professionals. Drawing on the gripping first-hand accounts of their battlefield experiences, Steve Call allows the TACPs to speak for themselves. He accompanies their narratives with informed analysis of the development of CAS strategy, including potentially controversial aspects of the interservice rivalries between the air force and the army which have at times complicated and even obstructed the optimal employment of TACP assets. Danger Close makes clear, however, that the systematic coordination of air power and ground forces played an invaluable supporting role in the initial military victories in both Afghanistan and Iraq. This first-ever examination of the intense, life-and-death world of the close air support specialist will introduce readers to a crucial but little-known aspect of contemporary warfare and add a needed chapter in American military history studies.

Wings Over the Hindu Kush

Author : Lukas Muller
Publisher : Asia@War
ISBN 13 : 9781913118662
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (186 download)

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Book Synopsis Wings Over the Hindu Kush by : Lukas Muller

Download or read book Wings Over the Hindu Kush written by Lukas Muller and published by Asia@War. This book was released on 2020-07-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Wings over Hindu Kush' is the story of air warfare over Afghanistan in the period between 1989 and the intervention in 2001. Illustrated with exclusive photography, more than a dozen authentic colour artworks, and maps. It provides an exclusive source of reference for enthusiasts and professionals alike.

The Soviet–Afghan War 1979–89

Author : Gregory Fremont-Barnes
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1780961200
Total Pages : 214 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (89 download)

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Book Synopsis The Soviet–Afghan War 1979–89 by : Gregory Fremont-Barnes

Download or read book The Soviet–Afghan War 1979–89 written by Gregory Fremont-Barnes and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-11-20 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Soviet invasion of its neighbour Afghanistan in December 1979 sparked a bloody nine-year conflict in that country until Soviet forces withdrew in 1988–89, dooming the communist Afghanistan government to defeat at the hands of the Mujahideen, the Afghan popular resistance backed by the USA and other powers. The Soviet invasion had enormous implications on the global stage; it prompted the US Senate to refuse to ratify the hard-won SALT II arms-limitation treaty, and the USA and 64 other countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics. For Afghanistan, the invasion served to prolong the interminable civil war that pitted central government against the regions and faction against faction. The country remains locked in conflict over 30 years later, with no end in sight. Featuring specially drawn mapping and drawing upon a wide range of sources, this succinct account explains the origins, history and consequences of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, thereby shedding new light on the more recent history – and prospects – of that troubled country.