Afghan Communism and Soviet Intervention (Oxford Pakistan Paperbacks)

by Henry S. Bradsher

Release Date: February, 2001

Edition: Paperback

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A Political Look into the Soviet/Afganistan War

Harry Bradsher's book "Afgan Communism and Soviet Intervention" is a good book about the political situation in Afghanistan during the late 1970s and 1980s. It covers in great detail the governmental situation and changes that drove Afghanistan and the Soviet Union into armed conflict.
What I which was included in this book was more information about the combat actions between the warring factions.
So if your looking for a book about the political situation, then this is it. If your looking for a book on the military operations of the Soviet-Afghanistan War, then you might want to look somewhere else.

Mandatory for anyone studying or browsing modern Afghanistan

There have been numerous books written about Afghanistan in the years since 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded that poor, suffering nation. In the 20 years since, we have seen wanna-be scholarly tomes guaranteed to glaze the readers' eyes in short order -- many to be outdated before the ink was dry. We've also seen tales of intrepid adventure by foreign jornalists and interlopers who concentrated on their own travels, opinions, woes and hang-nails (in which the Afghans themselves were mere wallpaper behind the writers' self absorbtion). In too many Afghan books, important historic events were reduced to facile boilerplate.

Now thankfully comes Henry Bradsher, a former AP man who served in Moscow and is a veteran observer of the region. He has a sharp eye for detail, an immense depth of knowledge and an unusually critical sensitivity for his subject.

His latest book, an update and rewrite of an earlier edition on the subject, lays out one of the most intriguing sagas of modern times -- from the Cold War to the New World Order. And he does it as no other writer in the field has yet done.

Even the oldest Afghan hands will find intriguing new details in this book, information that is exciting to read and vital for long-term history. Whether describing the assasination of Afghan leaders, the storming of a palace or the campus evolution of communism and Islamism, Brasher's writing is unparalleled. Only by absorbing his book and thereby comprehending recent Afghan history can we begin to understand what led to the disintegration of that nation as a state and its sad evolution as a headquarters for terrorism and the likes of Osama bin laden, the FBI's Most Wanted.

My copy of Bradsher's first book is now so dog-eared from constant reference as to be difficult to get around. His new and updated edition will surely meet the same fate, which is why I'll keep an extra copy handy just to occasionally savor Bradsher's living moments of a tragic yet fascinating history.

It's rare that a scholarly work presents the ingredients and outline for a serious Hollywood movie, while at the same time preserving academic integrity. Henry Bradsher's book does that. It's a 5-star masterpiece.

Read it and savor it -- or be the less for missing out on a grand experience.

Bradsher and Afghanistan Zindabad.