Battle for Afghanistan

by Mark Adkin, Mohammad Yousaf

Overview

This is the story of the defeat of Soviet Russia's forces in Afghanistan by a guerrilla force known as the Mujahideen, heavily backed by Pakistan and the USA. The Mujahideen paved the way for the Taliban regime, to exist having all but defeated the Russian Army in the late 80's.

The author, Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf, was head of the Afghan Bureau of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence and as such was effectively the Mujahideen's commander-in-chief. He controlled the flow of thousands of tons of arms across Pakistan and into its occupied neighbor, arms that were bought with CIA and Saudi Arabian funds from the USA. One of the Mujahideen's close allies was none other than Osama Bin Laden.

This compelling book was put together with great skill the by military historian, Mark Adkin in conjunction with Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf and is essential reading for anyone interested in the truth behind the Afghanistan War which led to the conditions that exist there today.

A hardback edition of this book was published by Casemate in 2001 under the title Afghanistan: The Bear Trap.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781844156160
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	09/26/2007
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Major Mark Adkin was commissioned into The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment in 1956 and served with it and The Royal Anglian Regiment in Germany, Malaya, Mauritius and Aden. On leaving the British Army he joined the Overseas Civil Service and was posted to the Solomon Islands. Transferred to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, he was one of the last British District Officers anywhere in the world.

His final overseas post was as a contract officer for five years with the Barbados Defence Force, and it was as the Caribbean operations staff officer that he participated in the US invasion of Grenada in 1983. He now lives in Bedford.

Brigadier Mohammed Yousaf was born in 1937 and was commissioned as an infantry officer into the Frontier Defence Force Regiment of the Pakistan Army in 1961. Subsequently his career took him through the usual sequence of command and staff appointments, including active service against India. He also attended the Command and Staff College at Quetta and the National Defence College at Rawalpindi. While commanding and infantry bridge he was selected by the Director of the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) to head its Afghan Bureau, a post he help from 1983 to 1987, until he resigned as a matter of principle and left the Army. During these four years he was responsible for training, and operational planning of the Mujahideen inside Afghanistan and later inside the Soviet Union.

Table of Contents

Military Symbols used on Maps     viii
Maps     ix
A Note on Sources     x
Publisher's Note     xi
Introduction     1
Prologue     8
Beginnings     20
The Mujahideen     31
The Infidels     44
Another Vietnam     62
The Role of the CIA     78
The Pipeline     97
Training and Tactics     113
Feuding and Fighting     128
Kabul, the Key     142
The Bear Attacks     158
Wonder Weapons - Gunships versus Stingers     174
Bear Baiting     189
The Bear Backs Off     207
Two Disasters     220
Postscript     233
Index     237