در سال ۱۹۷۹، نخستوزیر افغانستان، حفیظ الله امین، قصد داشت از طریق اتخاذ رویکردی بهروز و مدرن کشورش را اصلاح کند و سنتهای فئودالی را کنار بزند. اما در کشوری که همهچیز پایۀ عرفانی و دینی داشت و میتوان گفت که از لحاظ صنعتی به هیچ پیشرفتی نرسیده بود، جاهطلبی امین به بنبست خورد، او نه تنها موفق نشد کاری کند که شهروندان افغانستان سنتهای قدیمی را کنار بگذارند، بلکه اقداماتش موجب آشفتگی نیز شد. مخالفت مردم شدت بیشتری گرفت و به همین دلیل امین و همکارانش تصمیم گرفتند به پاکسازی مخالفان در سرتاسر کابل بپردازند. رهبران شوروی نگران شدت گرفتن جنگ داخلی در افغانستان بودند. افغانستان ،سالهای سال بود که از متحدان مهم روسیه به شمار میآمد. در نهایت، در دسامبر سال ۱۹۷۹، اولین قشون شوروی پا به کابل گذاشت. امین از روسها درخواست کمک کرد تا به او در سرکوب شورش مردم یاری برسانند، اما روسیه به جای اینکه به امین کمک کند، او را ترور کرد و ببرک کارمَل را به رهبری افغانستان رساند. در این کتابچه از مجموعۀ »یک ساعت تاریخ» به این پرسشها پرداخته میشود: ریشههای حملۀ شوروی به افغانستان چه بود؟ بازی بزرگ و انقلاب ثور چه تأثیری بر سرنوشت افغانستان در دورۀ جنگ سرد داشت؟ مردمان افغانستان چگونه با این حمله مقابله کردند و سرانجام این تهاجم چه بود؟
Afghanistan has been known as graveyard of empires and it's apparently evident through history. Soviet Afghan war itself was very complex and a lot more could be explored. But hourly history has its limitations and within that it's a great read.
In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in an effort to stabilize their neighbor. In theory, Afghanistan had a communist government and the USSR had a policy of not letting any communist government fall.
In 1989, the Soviet Union finished withdrawing its armed forces from Afghanistan. On paper they had negotiated a stable pro-Soviet government to lead Afghanistan after 10 years of frustrating fighting an elusive enemy that specialized in hitting the much better equipped Soviet army within guerilla hit-and-run tactics.
Within 3 years both the government of Afghanistan and the government of the USSR had collapsed and Afghanistan became a haven for international Muslim terrorists like Osama bin Laden.
As I read about the difficulties that the Soviets had in fighting against the mujahedeen guerrilla fighters, it struck me that in many ways you could have removed the word Soviet and replaced it with the word American and have a fairly decent description of the American experience in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021.
This series is designed to give the reader a solid grasp of a topic in about an hour's worth of reading. Some topics are really too big for this self-imposed limit, but I thought this was a pretty good length for this topic.
I found the book very informative and it gave me a clear picture about the subject matter.
The Soviet-Afghan war started at the end of 1979 and lasted more than nine years. The Soviets probably did not realize the scope of problems of a war in Afghanistan. The United States got involved more to weaken the Soviet Union. Ultimately it made matters worse because it gave rise to the Mujahideen and then the Taliban and Al- Qaeda.
La lucha por la hegemonía se pelea en los patios ajenos.
Me agrada el recuento de las causas que llevaron al involucramiento de la URSS y USA en una guerra peleada por hegemonía. Ambos salieron luego de 30 años, con el rabo entre las piernas, tras cientos de miles de muertos entre militantes y civiles. Estos últimos pusieron la mayor cuota y los problemas no sólo no se resolvieron. Mas bien hoy día se han agravado.
A very straight forward high level explanation of the Soviet-Afghan war. Nice bibliographic references at the end of the reading, which allows you to do a deep dive into the conflict if that is what you need/want.
In my case, I have been reading “Los muchachos de zinc”, (Boys in Zinc) Svetlana Alexievich and all I was looking for was a fast, simplified resource to give me a better understanding of the Soviet-Afghan war.
It was an enjoyable read. I knew very little about the war,only what I had read in the daily newspaper. Even so,I have to wonder whether this book was too much of a simplification.
Two worlds powers were defeated because of the hunger for the dominance of the world. In the end, the biggest losers are the same world powers and the poor Afghan society.
First I was equipped with ignorance about the history of this nation. Therefore this book was eyeopening. The so-called superpowers showed little concern for the afghan people.
While an attempt was made at the start and the end to paint a broader geo political picture, it was all about events and dates. Very dry reading, but it’s good if you are looking for an objective summary
Short, concise summary of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. The Soviets were invited by the Afghan government but then became emboiled in a 10 year struggle fueled by US interests in keeping the fighting going as an effort to weaken the Soviet Union.
It did exactly what it said on the tin. It is very concise (maybe too concise but then that's its goal). It did give me a high level overview of the war. I'll probably skip such crib note histories in future as details matter. If you need a summary and have only an hour, then read the above.