The Great Gamble: The Soviet War in Afghanistan

by Gregory Feifer

Book Overview

"Fascinating....A highly readable history of the conflict." -- New York Times Book Review In The Great Gamble , a groundbreaking account of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, former NPR Moscow correspondent Gregory Feifer vividly depicts the war that contributed greatly to the demise of the USSR, and that offers striking lessons for the 21st century, as well. Told from the perspective of the Russians who fought it, The Great Gamble offers valuable...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061143189
• ISBN13: 9780061143182
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A continuing war

A very vivid account of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Obviously they knew very little of this poor and primitive country prior to sending their troops in. Afghanistan was and is still today a collection of tribal warlords vying for control of their territory. What is surprising is how ill-fed and badly clothed the Soviet troops were. They would raid and steal food and clothing from the Afghans. They were also insufficiently paid. They would even sell their own munitions to the Afghans. It is unclear to this day how many Soviet troops were killed in Afghanistan. It also exposes the canard that U.S. aid was instrumental in the Soviet collapse. It was the Mujahideen warrior, followed by thousands of Arab jihadis in the mid-eighties who were doing the fighting. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia gave far more direct aid than the U.S. There are obviously many parallels with the U.S. invasion of Iraq - particularly deceit and an inability to end a war, and more importantly an inability to spread democracy or communism to a country ill-suited to the modern world. When the Soviets pulled out, Afghanistan was left with very little - most of its basic infrastructure was shattered - roads, schools, farms... The warlords started fighting each other. The Afghan war imploded in New York on September 11,2001.

Bad decision making at the Kremlin.

As the author states, the Soviet War in Afghanistan was due to a series of bad decisions by senile old men who believed the reports of their representatives in Kabul. It shows how bad and ruthless leaders in Kabul were suceeded by even more bad and ruthless leaders there. One wonders whether we are doing the same thing in Afghanistan right now. Some of the choices these leaders made are in hindsight bad. The Kremlin turned down past requests for intervention in Afghanistan. When the regime started to crumble, the Soviet Union decided to get rid of the Afghan leader Amin and install their own man Karmel. The book shows the decision making at the Kremlin level and those on the ground. In fact, the intervention was only to replace leaders. not to be a complete occupation. It turned into a complete occupation when they met opposition. This is a great book about the Soviet War in Afghanistan. I got a good view of how the Soviets made decisions in regards to this war. Hopefully the United States will not make the same mistakes as they wage their war in Afghanistan.

A very interesting and informative book

On December 24, 1979, Soviet armies marched across the border into neighboring Afghanistan, beginning a war that would last ten years and result in the deaths of some 14,000 Soviet personnel and anywhere from 600,000 to 2 million Afghans. This book, by National Public Radio's Moscow correspondent, Gregory Feifer, tells the story of that war. Overall, I must say that I found this to be a surprisingly fair and balanced work. The author did an excellent job of presenting the Soviet forces not as an all-powerful fighting force (as some at the time did), but instead shows the many weaknesses in the Soviet's supply and command structures. I was shocked at how ill-equipped and unprepared the Soviet military was for operations in Afghanistan, and how out-of-touch the Soviet leadership was. I think that this is a very interesting and informative book, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to understand the Soviet war in Afghanistan. [As an aside, the author expresses the hope that the American leadership will learn from what happened to the Soviets in Afghanistan, but with the Obama administration's recent announcement of a troop surge in that nation one must really wonder.]

Many Parallels with U.S. Efforts!

No power has ever successfully conquered Afghanistan. Russia's war in Afghanistan not only failed, but also had a substantial impact on the Soviet Union's collapse. Russia's invasion was precipitated by Brezhnev's superficial but emotional tie to the Afghan's first communist president (Taraki). The president's murder by a fellow communist leader (Amin) in 1979 offended Brezhnev, suspected by some to have CIA ties, and created worry that Afghanistan would fall into turmoil despite the Kremlin's investment of $2.25 billion in military and economic aid. Official estimates of Soviet war deaths during the 8-year war is around 15,000; Soviet veterans, however, believe the figure may be as high as 75,000, along with 1,25 million Afghan deaths. The Afghan Communist Party was established in 1965 in Kabul - a natural outgrowth of the fact that many Afghan citizens had been educated in Russia. The party then came to power in April, 1978 with the overthrow of President Dauod. Thousands were soon executed - religious and tribal leaders, political activists, and scholars were targeted. Communist-imposed land reform became another source of discord, as well as including women in a government literacy campaign. The first invasion act was to remove/kill Amin, hopefully pacifying the Afghans. This appeared to work, with many welcoming the Soviet troops. However, relations quickly soured, and sniping, mines, and guerrilla raids took over. Russian troops didn't help matters with their raiding local farmers and merchants for supplies, and failing to respect women when searching Afghanistan homes for terrorists. The Soviets' mandate was to "help the Afghan people," a vague directive that didn't square with reality. Two-thirds of the Afghan army deserted, and the military supply-arm was prohibited from buying locally. Not only were supplies often scarce, but hepatitis and typhus infected a third of the army. Their anti-aircraft missiles, artillery, heavy APCs, and numerous tanks were of little benefit, and eventually replaced by more helicopters and jets. Moscow tried aid programs - building hospitals, power plants, expanding airports. More appreciated, however, were weapons for the Afghans from China, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. On September 25, 1986 eight choppers returning to base were attacked - three shot down, and the other five quickly set down. American Stingers had arrived. Afghans shot down 270 aircraft over the following year. Gorbachev came to power that same year and announced withdrawal in two years. In 1987 the U.S. sent $630 million in arms to the region. After the Soviets left Afghanistan and their 183 bases, Afghan leaders began fighting amongst themselves, and eventually largely destroyed Kabul. Russian veterans found themselves adrift as the Soviet Union dissolved, while a third of Afghanistan's population of 5.5 million had fled abroad, and another 2 million internally displaced. Thousands more then fled to Russia to avoid r